Hoshigaki
by writer168
Summary: When Sakura was three, her father told her he was a criminal. When she was seven, the last thing she saw of him was the sword on his back. When she was eight, she had a friend named Kiba. When they were twelve, they met Shino. And when they were genin, they began to fight for the truth because they could no longer fight for the sake of Konoha.
1. Lovely

**A/N: So this is the rewrite of** _ **Haruno by Name, Hoshigaki by Blood**_.

 **Yeah.**

 **Sorry.**

 **Enjoy!**

::

Unbeknownst to everyone, Hoshigaki Kisame had more than once considered having a child of is own. Maybe it was the curiosity that stemmed from never having parents of his own and wondering what would happen if a kid was raised under proper love and care, unlike what happened with him. Maybe it was the insurance of having his bloodline continue—it would certainly scare the locals if another sharp-toothed menace wandered the streets with a sword on their back and blood on their hands.

But maybe he wanted one because he was tired of being alone.

When he was a part of his village, he never had many acquaintances or anything remotely _close_ to a relationship with another living, breathing human being. They were too much trouble sometimes, and what was the point of keeping someone close if they were just going to die on a mission sooner or later? It wasn't practical.

Besides, it wasn't like he minded being alone, but that didn't mean he had to be content with it for the rest of his life. At fourteen, he decided that one day he'd be a father.

In fifth year of apprenticeship under Suikazan Fuguki, a member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, Kisame was assigned as a guard to the Cypher Division to protect the codes they carried. He was only fifteen when he killed six of his own village under the command of his superior, one of them who showed him the utmost kindness and extended a hand towards him when no one else did.

When he killed her, he wasn't sorry.

 _What did it mean if he didn't feel remorse at the death of the innocent?_

But it was a job—a job, he soon found out, that was buried under lies and ruses and subterfuge. His master had drilled it into him how important it was to keep those codes safe and out of Konoha's hands, but Fuguki himself had been leaking Kirgakure's valuable information to enemies all around.

 _What did it mean to be "good"?_

Kisame killed him for his betrayals and took Samehada for himself, unintentionally becoming a member of the Seven Swordsman and defecting from his village with the information of his master's deceit hidden beneath his tongue.

He earned the title of a monster then and took refuge in Amegakure as he thought of what he could do next.

 _What did it mean to take the fall for a traitor?_

Amegakure was the safe haven of all criminals alike. It didn't matter the death count of treasonous activities tucked under one's belt. As long as they didn't stir up trouble in the village, they were allowed to stay. After two week of staying in a small motel with nowhere to go, Kisame moved into the apartments towards the outskirts of the southern district.

He'd have to find something to do eventually and catch some mercenary work where he could if he wanted to keep on his toes, he thought as he lowered himself on the dingy couch of his cramped living room. There was no doubt in his mind that his face was appearing in more and more bingo books the more he stayed low and out of trouble, and it was only a matter of time before hunter-nin would be on his tail.

Killing them wouldn't be problem.

Blood was _never_ a problem.

He stood and opened the door when his doorbell emitted a broken caw. Kisame blinked and stared at the petite red-haired woman that greeted at him in the hallway. Undeterred by his appearance, she smiled brightly and held out a plate of slightly burned white chocolate chip cookies.

"Hello!" she greeted. "My name's Otsuka Saki and I'm your next door neighbor! Well, right across the hall neighbor and, er, I mean, it's nice to meet you!"

Kisame stared at her for a few moments before shutting the door in her face and trying to go back to the couch to return to his thinking. He managed to get in about two minutes through the persistent knocking on his door before he sighed and heaved himself back up to swing it open.

"What?"

"Did you just slam the door in my face?!" she demanded, an angry tinge to her pale face. He cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said. "And I'll do it again."

He stepped back into his apartment, but Saki kept the door open with her free hand and pushed it enough to stick the plate through the gap.

"Take the cookies!"

He sighed again.

"I don't want—"

" _Take_. _Them_."

Kisame pressed a couple of fingers to his temple as he reluctantly took the plate and fully shut the door. He heard a fuming _'you're welcome!'_ from outside before the slam of another door. The cookies stared up at him and, for lack of his better judgement like checking for poison or razor blades, he picked one up and took a bite.

Crunchy. Bitter. Burnt.

Maybe she tried to kill him with her horrible baking skills.

Later he learned Otsuka Saki really didn't have a clue who he was and worked as a civilian nurse at Amegakure General Hospital. She gave him a good earful when he returned an empty plate to her and told her that one cookie could've probably killed an entire army. Her temper, as amusing as it was, consisted of her turning as red as her hair as she smacked his arm repeatedly and yelled at how ungrateful he was that she actually welcomed him to the building.

For the first time in a long while, he laughed.

 _What did it mean to love someone?_

::

Kisame married her when he was sixteen.

::

"Akatsuki?" Kisame repeated. He sat at the dinner table as a woman cloaked in red and black stood by the window, staring out into the rain and offering the barest of nods.

"Yes. You've interested our leader, Hoshigaki-san, and he'd like for you to surrender your services over to him," she informed. Her voice was like the ocean that washed along sandy beaches—quiet but aware. "We'll give you some time to consider our offer."

The woman opened the window and left in a flutter of origami swans, leaving Kisame to sit and think like he did when he first moved into his first apartment.

 _What did it mean to surrender your soul to a demon?_

A hand took his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

"That was the Angel," Saki whispered, her mint green eyes wide with fear. He placed his hand on top of hers. "No one ever refuses her because she works for _God_. She... you... She's not giving you a choice."

She placed her other hand over her stomach and held it protectively.

Kisame saw the action and looked away.

 _What did it mean to go back to who you once were?_

::

He never liked the hospital. The white halls were too bright and the sterile smell burned his nose and reminded him it was only there to cover the blood he never grew tired of seeing. The plastic chairs were uncomfortable and could barely accommodate for his bulk.

Kisame waited three hours before the doctor came in, somber and gray-faced.

"I'm sorry," the doctor told him genuinely. "Saki, she... she wasn't strong enough to give birth so we decided to give her a cesarean section to try and alleviate the stress, but it was too much for her to take."

He slowly digested the information, hiding the bubble of sadness in his chest and regarding the doctor blankly.

"She's gone?"

The doctor nodded.

"Yes. I'm sorry. If you would like to see her one last time..."

Kisame followed the doctor to the room Saki had passed and was left to grieve for ten minutes before the body had to be taken to the hospital morgue to be processed. He saw the strands of red hair beneath the white sheet the laid over her. In Kirigakure, he had to kill his classmate to earn the title of genin. Until he was fifteen and he defected, he earned himself the highest kill streak amongst his peers.

Now, at seventeen and an Akatsuki, he killed enough people to fill a sea. But he couldn't bring himself to bring the sheet down to take one last look at his wife's face.

 _What did it mean to be alone again?_

But then he remembered why they were at the hospital in the first place, and he slipped out of the room, though not casting the still body one last longing glance.

"Thank you," he murmured. Kisame closed the door behind him and didn't look back. He took the stairs one more floor up to the nursery and approached the receptionist, uncaring of the fearful reaction he received when the man at the desk raised his head to see a monster of a man with blue skin and sharpened teeth.

"Sir," the receptionist gulped. "Y-You're here fo-for...?"

"My daughter. Hoshigaki."

The receptionist nodded shakily and motioned for a nurse to lead him to the room full of newborns. At the window of the actual nursing room, his line of sight was directed to a small girl swathed in pink, wrinkling her nose and holding her fisted hands close to her chest.

The bubble in Kisame's chest disappeared.

"Your wife decided to name her Sakura before she passed," the nurse informed. "If you would like to change it, you still can."

His baby had pink hair. His baby was _beautiful_.

"Sakura's fine," he replied faintly, eyes still transfixed on his daughter. "When can she leave?"

"Since she was born through cesarean, she'd have to stay here for about a week to make sure she doesn't have any health issues and that's she strong enough to be taken home," the nurse informed. By now, Kisame zoned out and stared at his little baby in both wonder and melancholy.

He could finally be a father like he always wanted.

 _But what did it mean to raise a child when their father was a man the world wanted dead?_


	2. Candle Light

Kisame took his daughter home at the end of a week to an empty apartment that smelled of bright citrus. Saki liked having candles around. She always bought the same one, and Tropical Sunrise always had been her favorite...

He frowned and shut the door with the sole of his sandal. He'd put away the candles when he had the time, maybe at the back of the cupboards where nobody could sift through and find them. Those candles couldn't just be _thrown_ away. What would Saki say? If he wasted them and—

A sigh rumbled out of his throat as he looked down at the small bundle in his arms. Sakura silently stared up at him, her hands balled up beneath her chin and green eyes searching around his hairline.

He smiled.

"Welcome home," Kisame whispered. He flicked on the lights to the living room as he passed it and took a seat on the couch, placing his elbow on the arm rest and adjusting Sakura to put more support at the back of her head.

At least the rain hadn't touched her.

But now he had to consider his options now that he worked for a time-extensive organization and had to double up as a new father.

For one, Sakura had to be kept as far away from Orochimaru and Sasori as possible. Orochimaru would more than likely experiment on her and Sasori would try to turn her into one of his disgusting human puppets. Kakuzu was... maybe he could reason with Kakuzu through money and favors, but the man had just killed his third partner of the year. His temper was one of the worst he'd ever seen and the last thing he wanted was to come back and see his daughter turned into nothing but a puddle of blood and cartilage.

Zetsu was more or less out of the equation. He ate people and was gone on reconnaissance nearly all of the time. So that left Konan; the only person sane enough to take care of a baby.

Sakura blinked sleepily and started drifting off and Kisame poked one of her cheeks. She wasn't blue or had sharp teeth like he thought she would. She was just a quiet little baby that gave him happy toothless smiles.

He already loved her, and he already knew she deserved better than this.

"Kisame-san."

He stood, holding Sakura close to his chests, and turned to regard his visitor.

Konan could barely restrain her surprise. She'd felt a small blip of chakra that wasn't his and assumed it was the residue from a previous mission—never in a hundred years would she have assumed it was a child. Kisame was only seventeen and she herself was only three years his senior, and not once in her life had she wanted a child. In fact, shinobi as notorious as they were didn't _have_ children.

And not only had the newborn caught her off guard, she didn't even know his wife was pregnant to begin with.

... and now that she thought more about it, she didn't even know his wife's _name_.

They were coworkers. Not friends. Personal matters were kept personal.

"She's yours?" Konan questioned despite herself. It was such an unprecedented discovery that she found herself unable to bring up any other subject. Kisame nodded, his free hand flexing over his kunai pouch. "I won't hurt her."

"You won't. Or I'll kill you," he warned. He bared his teeth for a split second to seal the threat before turning to hoist his baby's care bag off the floor and onto the couch.

Konan eyed the movement carefully. She heard stories of how mothers were intensely protective of their children when they were born because they'd fostered them in their own bodies for nine whole months with care and love and a hope to raise what grew inside them. Fathers were protective too, but normally not as much as mothers because they didn't have the same internal connection.

Kisame reminded her much of the mother between the two. If that were so and if the rest of the empty house meant anything, it was because of one of three things. One, his wife was out on an errand. Unlikely. Two, his wife was still at the hospital, a possibility if she was truly sick.

Or three.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Konan said. Kisame met her blank gaze for a moment before he turned back to his daughter's sleeping face.

"Don't worry about it."

She looked at the baby again.

"I'll have to tell Pein-sama about his development."

He shrugged, but in a careful way as to not disturb the bundle in his arms.

"Do what you want. But aside from him, she stays out of everything and out of sight. I'm not getting her involved in this shit."

Konan nodded in acquiesce and moved to leave the apartment but paused at the front door. She tilted to her head to the side and listened to the rummaging behind her.

"What's her name?"

The rummaging stopped and was followed by a reluctant silence.

"... Sakura," came the wary reply. She looked back ahead of her and opened the door as she let her body disintegrate into paper cranes.

"It fits."

She didn't tell Pein what she saw that day.

::

Her casket was open and the pastor spoke in words recited through several other dead; passionate but detached, heartfelt but empty.

Kisame sat in the front row dressed in black, his head bowed and two week old Sakura held close to him. She stared at his face the whole ceremony, observing how he didn't cry no matter how much his eyes wanted to. She also stared at the gills on each side of his face, how neither were straight and how none of them were really identical to each other.

The pastor stopped talking and faced the front row.

"If the husband of the deceased would like to say a few words?" he prompted. Kisame angled him with a glance the made him quiver in his spot.

"No."

The pastor coughed and tried to regain his composure.

"I-If that's so, then we will proceed with..."

Sakura made a small spit bubble at her father, and he returned it with a sad smile as he wiped it away with a handkerchief.

::

Fuck.

A month had passed without too much of a struggle. Kisame had been sent out on missions that lasted a few days at a time and weren't too chakra intensive, leaving him the option to have a clone stay with Sakura the days he was gone so she wouldn't notice her father was absent in the first place. But the mission he'd been assigned to this time was three weeks long two countries over, and he knew damn well he wasn't able to keep his chakra steady enough for that long.

"Is there a problem?" Konan asked informing Kisame of his duties. Sakura was in her gray sleeper on the counter, watching the exchange in front of her.

"A... small one," he admitted. He scratched his head and looked around for where he'd left that damn baby bottle. "I'll be gone for too long and I need someone to watch Sakura and I don't exactly trust the locale."

Konan approached the counter and extended one of her hands palm side up. And origami duck came to life on her skin and waddled onto Sakura's blue onesie, making the little girl go cross-eyed while trying to stare at the little form on her front.

"I can watch over her, if you wish," she offered. "You'll be gone for over a month and there's no one else you can turn to."

Kisame grabbed the baby bottle that was on the worn coffee table—why hadn't he noticed—and frowned.

"I'll figure something out so I won't owe you."

"You made it seem urgent."

"It _is_ urgent. I have to leave in an hour."

"So refusing my help wouldn't be your best option."

"To hell with my options! What the hell are you gonna get out of it?!" Kisame snapped. He immediately regretted his tone of voice when Sakura's face scrunched up and she started to wail. He scrubbed a callous hand over his face as he hurried over and took her into his arms to whisper soft words in her ear and pat her back until she quieted down into teary hiccups.

Konan, as apathetic as she always was, watched patiently and impassively until Kisame pursed his lips and glanced back at her.

"... Keep her away from everyone else. Especially from Orochimaru-san and Sasori-san."

She nodded once.

"And when you hold her, always support the head and make sure her head doesn't hit anything, there was still soft spots in the skull that haven't developed and she can get hurt easily—" he began to ramble as he combed the room, pointing out various items and listing schedules for Sakura's usual feeding times, nap times, what temperature to keep the room at, how to make her formula, and including a quick step by step rundown on how to put on her diaper whenever it needed to be changed. "—and just... just be careful, alright? Sakura's only a month and a half old."

Konan nodded again but her face never changed.

"I've retained everything you've told me."

"Good," he sighed. He looked at the pair of green eyes that observed him so fixedly and placed a short kiss atop Sakura's pink hair. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Ever so gently he transferred his hold into Konan's and took a step back to be sure her arms were fastened around her daughter securely and correctly. The frown persisted on his face, even when he took Samehada and strapped it onto his back.

"Make sure she doesn't end up hurt."

She tipped her head and held the baby close like she'd witnessed Kisame do many times before.

"I understand."

He cast one last worried look at his baby before disappearing in a wisp of mist, leaving Konan and Sakura to themselves in an apartment that was a new sort of empty. Konan looked down at Sakura and saw how fascinated she was at the labret piercing fastened underneath her bottom lip.

"I'll have to tell Pein-sama about you now," she told the baby. "He'll be upset that I haven't done so before. He doesn't shout, though, so you'll have no reason to cry."

She peered out at the rain. It wouldn't be feasible if Sakura got wet and grew sick, nor would it be best if she used her wings to transport the both of them to the tallest tower in Amegakure. Sakura might get injured and she'd read medical accounts of abusive head trauma—or shaken baby syndrome, as it was more often referred to.

"We'll be walking, then," she decided. Konan tapped the girl's forehead. "You'll need to keep quiet so no one will get suspicious. Pein-sama is the God of this village. You should keep in mind to respect him."

Sakura made a strange gurgling noise as she flailed her small arms up and down. Konan blinked, her face the perfect mask of the least expression.

"Hm."

::

Pein disliked babies.

Even if they were impressionable, they were ineffective. Children were only tolerable when they could walk and talk and have a basic understanding of the world around them, but babies lacked even _that_ much, and he loathed to think of living years trying to raise one of his own. And with being alongside Konan ever since they were children, he knew for a fact that she didn't want to bear the responsibility of taking care of children either.

So there was no reason for her to approach him with one in her arms.

"We don't take in orphans," he said. "The orphanages here have viable space and are funded enough to care for newborns."

"She isn't an orphan, Pein. This is Sakura. Kisame's daughter," she introduced tonelessly. His lips pulled down into a thoughtful frown.

"I wasn't aware he had a child."

"He's very close-mouthed about it."

"Then why are you taking care of her?"

"He'll be gone for too long on his mission and there was no one he could turn to," she said. "What is a mission for peace if you're throwing those defenseless into the fray?"

She knew. She knew far earlier than she was letting on and she didn't bother to tell him, and that made irritation twitch in the groves of his finger tips. Children were trainable. Babies were nuisances. Would she even survive the three years it took her to mature before she was able to learn the ways of the shinobi?

Pein strode towards the baby cradled close to Konan. Really, a child. A new soul in this wretched world he was trying to fix and would grow up to see how gray life really was. He stopped inches from _Sakura_ with a scrutinizing gaze over the supreme dissimilarity to her father.

Sakura took one long look at him before she started to cry.

He recoiled as his face folded in annoyance, turning on his heel and letting the hem of his cloak sweep against his ankles.

"Quiet her!"

Konan shifted the baby so that she could hold her by her bottom and pat her back in a soothing gesture like she'd seen Kisame do some times before. Her calculating amber eyes set on the back of her long-time friend.

"Kisame-san is intent on raising and protecting her," she said. "Are you in opposition to the decision he made?"

Pein didn't turn even as the cries began to soften.

"She will not be the cause of any problem," he told her firmly. "And she will be kept out of this building until she learns to control her actions."

The space between Konan's eyebrows creased slightly as she moved to leave the building the same way she came. Sakura had reduced to sniffles and peeped over her caretaker's shoulder at the strange man who frightened her with his piercings and his eyes ringed like purple fire.

She stared after him the whole way out, only looking away when the colors around her changed as the world passed her by.


	3. The Color of Money

_**A/N: Warning. Depictions of violence involving a child.**_

::

Six month old Sakura sat on a plush polka dot blanket on the floor as she clacked her building blocks together and nibbled on her teething ring. Kisame lay on his side next to her with his head propped up in his palm and his eyes fading in and out from being open and closing for minutes at a time.

"Buh, buh, buh, buh, gah!" Sakura exclaimed. He nodded and patted her stomach in encouragement.

"You're doing just fine," he mumbled. "Anything else you want to tell me?"

A clatter of wooden blocks.

"Bug-guh."

"Mhm. And?"

"Bah-wah..."

Konan took care of Sakura well enough when he wasn't around. Granted, she was rather... _dispassionate_ about it and didn't coo or praise or cuddle, but she had enough kindness deep in her heart to understand that children needed warmth, constant contact, and tenderness. She wasn't the ideal mother figure he wanted for his daughter, but it was enough. And he was grateful.

Kisame sat up as he felt a presence enter his apartment, frowning at his unusual guest. Kakuzu stood at the edge of the living room free of his mask and cloak. He never came to visit unless on orders and honestly couldn't care less about the other members of the organization, but here he was. Stone-faced and off-set eyes boring holes into Sakura's skull.

She stared back at him and gnawed her ring.

"What is that?"

"Nothing you'll care enough about," Kisame grunted. He picked up his daughter and placed her in his lap as she babbled nonsensical words. He then reached into a tupperware and pulled out a smooshy peach to hand over to her before looking up at Kakuzu again. "What do you want?"

"You're needed on another mission," Kakuzu said. He looked at the baby a little longer, perplexed. "Leader wanted me to tell you that Konan won't be available for the allotment you'll be gone."

Kisame cursed. How was he going to find a babysitter for Sakura _this_ time? Orochimaru and Sasori were still out of the equation and the only person he could even think of asking was... He grimaced at the thought of his only option and looked up.

"I need to—"

"Why is there—"

"—ask you—"

"—a child—"

"—a—"

"—in—"

"—favor!"

"—your care?"

Their words jumbled together in succession of their statements, but Kisame took it upon himself to sigh and stand as he hefted Sakura up in one of his arms.

"This is Sakura, my daughter," he said. Kakuzu raised a brow and stared at the baby again. "She's six months old and she needs someone to take care of—"

"No."

"I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't have any other choice, would I?" Kisame tried. He was starting to sound desperate, but there was no one else he could turn to. "Please, Kakuzu-san. I just need someone to watch over her until I get back."

The older of the two raised his unsettling eyes to gaze blankly at his colleague.

"Two weeks ago, you were laughing about a set of kills you had and how they weren't much of a show. You're a murderer. What are you doing playing 'dad' like you have the time?"

Kisame frowned. "Just because I kill for a living doesn't mean I can't have important people. Yeah, I'm a missing-nin and yeah, I committed treason. Who makes the rules about what I do with my life?"

Laughing about a death was different than regarding death itself, but Kakuzu dropped the subject without further question. It wasn't a necessary conversation they needed to have—he didn't care about the other's personal choices as long as it didn't interrupt the money flow that contributed to the Akatsuki's income.

He watched as the baby made grabs at her father's gills and nose.

"Look, the hit I have on this mission is worth eleven million with a 42% bonus if I finish before the deadline," Kisame said, unbothered by the tiny hands lightly smacking his face. Kakuzu's lips pressed into a grim line. "You can take my pay for this mission. Akatsuki grants us liberal wage for us anyways, so I won't need it. Just... _please_. You're the next best thing."

And that was how Kakuzu was left with a baby, a bag of things he'd never seen in his life, a set of written instructions on child care, and a plea to not kill Sakura when she cried. The little girl resigned to her spot on her polka dot blanket, her teething rin in her hands and some drool trickling down the corner of her mouth.

"Children are creatures I've never been fond of," he scowled. "You cause too much trouble and you cost more than you're worth. I don't know why Kisame decided to have you or why his compassion is saved solely for you, but don't expect it from me. I am not a friend. I am not an ally. If I hadn't been offered payment prior to this, you'd already be dead."

Sakura just gave him a bubbly smile and munched on her teething ring.

::

Three days later, Kakuzu learned to live with the baby with as minimal physical contact as possible. Kisame told him that babies needed constant contact to let them know they were safe and secure, but what security was there in a world like this? It was either keep your guard up or die. Besides, the girl was more well mannered than his previous partners and she didn't bother him when he counted money.

The babysitting job was fine. When Kisame came back, he didn't have to see her any longer, then everything would be left at that.

But then one of the bounty exchange masters—Zangei—alerted him that a group of enemy chuunin worth some pocket change were in the area.

After reading the short message delivered to him via one of his numerous networks, Kakuzu crumpled the paper in his fist and turned to scoop up Sakura who was already dressed in her footie pajamas. The moon shone through the specks of rain that fell from the sky as he opened the door out of the apartment, the backdrop of night welcoming nothing but heavy clouds.

Kisame said Sakura understood many words despite not yet knowing how to speak up.

Tonight, she would learn a set of new words forged from the world of death and disgrace she was born into.

 _Blood money_.

::

The country Amegakure resided in had more abandoned settlements than it did people, so he wasn't surprised when he was ambushed in the middle of one of them. Kakuzu eyed the four chuunin that he came into contact with and let out a guttural growl as he spied the glinting headbands they wore with such undeserving pride.

Takigakure.

There was nothing he hated more than Takigakure.

"Akatsuki," one of them spat. "Kidnapping a child. A baby! Where's your shame?!"

Sakura whimpered at the strange woman and clung harder onto Kakuzu's cloak. He offered her no comfort.

Without warning, a tendril shot out and slashed the speaker across her neck, sending her gurgling on her own blood as she collapsed on the ground, gasping. The other three jumped away to create distance and planned their next move, but Kakuzu knew it was limited as they more than likely wanted to harm Sakura as little as possible.

More leverage. Maybe children had their uses.

A second chuunin took their chance and swiped downwards with a katana—maybe Kakuzu wouldn't think to make sudden movements. Or perhaps he had enough heart to realize that one could shake a child that young and risk brain damage or death, so he wouldn't move and block out his tendrils to try and outmaneuver the blow and protect the baby that would probably be sold to whatever sick bastard would pay for her.

But the chuunin miscalculated.

Kakuzu shifted so the baby was more to his front.

The katana made a precise slice from top to bottom, missing Kakuzu, but nicking the baby on the top left ear and leaving a cut that was too deep to mend.

Sakura screamed and wailed as waterfalls of tears spewed from her eyes. The chuunin froze, horror dawning on his face after realizing what he'd done, and signing his fate by allowing Kakuzu the opportunity to rip out his guts in his distraction.

Upon brief inspection at the baby's torn, bloodied ear, he figured she'd be fine for another hour or so and could sustain a couple more surface injuries before anything too serious could happen.

The third chuunin could have been the least wise of the four that made a mistake of converging on him—honestly, who were they kidding, they were far out of their league the moment an S-class criminal decided to cash them in—and armed himself with weapons and diligence like he should, but mustered imploring eyes.

What an idiot.

"That baby is hurt," he grit out. "You can stop this now and get her some help. She's barely a child and the least you could do is get her healed!"

Kakuzu would've scoffed at the notion if he wasn't so uncaring of the topic at hand, but he'd have to admonish the effort put forth. Reasoning through morality with a man who'd been a criminal for longer than the chuunin had been _alive_ was stupid. More than stupid, actually.

Pathetic.

He raised his free arm and shot it at his enemy, his thick gray fingers clamping around his neck and the force of the attack sending him sprawling into the bark of a tree. More tendrils came out of the extension as he approached the fourth and final member of the Takigakure platoon.

"Why?" the chuunin hissed. "Why not give the baby up? Is putting her in danger really worth selling her to the highest bidder?"

Kakuzu knocked him to the side with the single swing of his fist, surely crushing skull and damaging the brain. Then, he crouched in front of the body as Sakura's wails filled the otherwise silent setting. The hand still attached to the third chuunin suddenly constricted full force, the wet slick of viscous liquid and veins dripping from his skin as he retracted it and held it in front of his last victim's chest.

"I'm not selling her," he said. He plunged his hand through skin and lungs and took out a still beating heart. "I'm babysitting."

He tossed the heart aside, worthless and weak, and began to make his way back to the village. Sakura wasn't as loud this time, but still cried and whined until her small voice grew hoarse.

"Remember what you witnessed here," Kakuzu told her. She sniffled and sobbed and hiccuped tiredly. "This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world."

He carried her back to the apartment in the dead of night with both of them covered in blood; Kakuzu in his victims' in Sakura's in her own.

::

Kisame returned home a week later and he was inwardly giddy with excitement at seeing his baby again after so long. On his way home he'd passed a store and bought a shark plushie he thought his daughter would adore.

As he stepped through the threshold, he felt a cold winding in his stomach and new immediately that something was wrong. Kakuzu was at the dining table with a book and pen, and Sakura was on her blanket in the living room sucking on her purple pacifier and acting the most quiet darling in the world.

But Sakura always made little noises when she had her pacifier or waved her arms wildly as she flopped her toys around or observed them with a childish rigor.

He ran over and held her close. It took her a few moments to realize that 'papa' was home, and once she knew, she echoed tiny whimpers and buried her face in his neck. Kisame, bothered by the unusual level of clinginess, scanned her body of injuries until he spotted her left ear.

The whole outer ear was mangled to hell, stitched with black thread he knew all too well and in the process of healing.

His heart dropped into his stomach.

"What did you do to her?" he whispered.

"Nothing," Kakuzu replied, unconcerned as he continued with whatever task he was on. "I only showed her the types of things her father does when he's not home."

"She's a baby," he hissed. "What did she see? What did you _make_ her see?"

There was the sound of a book shutting and the light clatter of a pen meeting wood.

"There were four opportunities to change my hearts last week. Unfortunately, this harvest was unfruitful," Kakuzu replied. His tone was blasé and unsympathetic even as he noticed the growing rage that surrounded his fellow Akatsuki member.

" _Get out_."

Kakuzu didn't need to be told twice. Kisame waited for the telltale click of the front door before he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and held her closer, murmuring his apologies through long minutes as she snuggled up to him and drifted off to sleep in her father's arms.

"You'll be okay now," he promised. But he found that promise lacking sincerity because he didn't know if she'd be okay. Not with the life he had or the one he provided her. "You'll... You'll be safe. You'll grow up to be better than I'll ever be."

But that was the one promise he could gift her because it was the very least he could ever do.

Criminals like him were not kind people.

Criminals like him were never supposed to raise a child.


	4. Silver Linings

"So, there was a guy I was after, right? Complete schmuck. Not worth the money on his head, but hey, money is money when you're in a job like mine. But don't do what I'm doing when you're older, it's not good," Kisame said. He spooned some applesauce into eight month old Sakura's mouth as she sat in her high chair, smiling as she ate and hugging her shark plushie close to her chest. "Anyway, I go to my assigned destination and my target's there with no guards whatsoever. Stupid bastard."

He blinked and pointed a finger at his daughter's giggling face.

"Don't say that word. It's bad."

"Bast'd!"

"Yeah, that's right. Bastard's a bad—"

His sentence died on his tongue as he realized her usual babbling actually turned _coherent_. A grin of sharp teeth and glee spread across his face as he began to laugh.

"No-No, don't—" he snerked, laughter breaking through his sentences. "That can't be your first— _pfft_ —word—"

Sakura tittered along with her father's joy and chanted along with him.

"Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!" she squealed. She raised her arms and made grabby hands to which he complied readily, lifting her up and spinning before planting a kiss on her cheek.

 _"You can't keep her from the world she was born into."_

A little after his excitement died down and he situated her back into her high chair, he took out a set of notecards he made himself and had been showing her each day he could for the past month and a half. Leaving her with Kakuzu had been an unfortunate eye opener for him, and if she was going to grow up in his world, she would have to know how to look out for herself the second she learned of the situation she was in.

Kisame held up the first card in front of her.

 _ **DANGEROUS**_

"Just like last time, okay? I'm going to show you the top fifty shinobi listed in the Bingo Book, including some honorable mentions. The most dangerous and worth the most across the five nations," he explained. She might not yet understand everything now, but he read there was a 'window of opportunity' in children where learning was the most crucial. The brain developed most rapidly between birth to five years of age, so the more he taught her when she was young, the more mentally prepared she would be.

He held up the first card with a picture and a name underneath. It was of an older man with unruly white hair and red paint that ran from his eyes down to his chin.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin. Affiliation: Konohagakure."

The next card. A woman with blue hair, stone cold hazel eyes, and an origami flower placed neatly in her hair. Sakura lit up and pointed at the picture.

"Ko!" she exclaimed. Kisame blinked as he stared at her, the card, then back at her again.

"You know lots of stuff already, huh?" he mused. "Must've gotten those brains from your old man, eh? But yeah, you're right. Good job. Konan, the Angel of Ame. Affiliation: Akatsuki and Amegakure."

It went on for the next forty-eight pictures filled with Kage, notorious missing-nin, jinchuriki, and formidable forces.

One day, she would know these names and faces by heart. She would know the people who could be out for her life, and when she did, she'd see that the life of a shinobi was kind to no one no matter how much heart they put into it.

Once he finished with those cards, he told her about what she'd have to learn when she was older.

"We'll have to work on your chakra control, at most. That's the most important thing that links in with everything you'll learn from ninjutsu to taijutsu to genjutsu to swordsmanship," he explained. He glanced at the ceiling thoughtfully. "We'll also have to see what elemental type you are when you're older, pup."

Sakura beamed at him.

 _"Her father's a murderer—a traitor, a villain. Why hide it from her when she could know the truth before you can have a chance to lie?"_

Kisame fed another spoonful of applesauce to her before taking up a frown. He was once again at a loss of options as to who to leave Sakura with for the time being. Orochimaru and Sasori were still high on the 'no-go' list and Kakuzu made himself a cozy spot at the very top with what he'd done a little over a month ago.

He sighed. Konan really was an angel in times like these.

"Alright," he said. He took her and her shark plushie into his arms. "We're going to see Leader-sama to see if he can look after you for a while."

::

Pein stared at him.

"You want me to look after your spawn."

"It's just a three week long mission, Leader-sama, or at least until Konan-san comes back. Please, it's... it's only because I don't have anymore options. Especially not after what happened last time," Kisame said. Pein spied the girl's torn ear and wondered how she managed such an injury.

But regardless of his musings, that's how his day turned from decent to less than enjoyable as he took to having the child in his office until Konan returned despite his earlier command to never have her in the tower until she learned to control herself.

Kisame was loyal. Loyalty was rewarded.

Pein placed her on the blanket next to his desk with the sole intent of ignoring her as best he could while he completed his work. While children didn't amount to much, especially those as young as her, he rightfully assumed that she shouldn't be much of an issue. She was eight months olds, could sit upright and crawl, and had some basic cognitive ability to understand simple statements. So in theory, she should be able to sit on her polka dot blanket with her shark plushie and behave.

But she wouldn't, of course, because why would she.

Sakura suckled on her pacifier for a good minute before she grew bored and started to crawl off the blanket and into Pein's immediate work space. One of her hands lifted to grab the the drawers attached to his desk. She managed to fumble with the handle a bit before she was dutifully picked up and returned her to her spot.

He glared.

"Don't move."

He sat back down in his seat and resumed his paperwork. Pein didn't know how much time passed since he glanced up to check on her, but he did a double take when he realized she wasn't on the blanket _again_. A quick scan of the room granted him the sight of Sakura having crawled over to the opposite end of his position to pat some books on the bookshelf. He withheld a sigh and strode over to pick her up and dump her back onto the blanket for the second time.

She giggled at the way his face creased in irritation at her actions as he took some of his books and stacked them around her like some makeshift barrier.

" _Stay_ ," he ordered. She gurgled and smiled and hugged her plushie. When Pein thought it was safe to go back to his papers, he was only able to get through two pages before there was a collapse of hardcover and a tug at his pant leg.

He glanced down and saw a pair of sparkling green eyes looking up at him.

"You're a handful," he said. He reached down for her and pulled her into his lap. "Annoying. What will happen to you if your father turns up dead and you become an orphan? Who will be there for you then?"

 _"Just stay here, Nagato."_

 _"Hide and they won't find you."_

 _"These Konoha shinobi..."_

 _"My parents! DON'T KILL THEM!"_

He frowned. "There will be no one to take care of you after that.

Sakura stared at him a little longer before clasping his nose and tugging. Pein pursed his lips in exasperation.

"You're an extremely irritating child."

He settled her down on his thigh moments before there was a single knock on the door and he called for them to enter. Kakuzu strode in all deep-seated discontent and red liquid soaking the ends of his cloak, ignoring the baby in Pein's possession and standing a meter or two away from the desk.

Sakura grew strangely subdued.

"Report," Pein commanded. Something at the back of his mind noted the girl's sudden change in temperament, but he stayed focused on the Akatsuki member in front of him. Kakuzu dropped a bloodied sack to the side of the leader's desk—a head, most likely, because the chances of it being anything but was very slim—and began his oral deliverance of his mission details in the same monotonous way he always did.

Sakura stayed miraculously well-behaved the whole and while, only shifting every minute or so to fiddle with the fabric of Pein's sleeve.

And it wasn't until the wrap up of the report did she raise her head and slowly extended an arm out towards Kakuzu.

"Foo," she cooed quietly. "Foo. Foo."

Kakuzu shut his mouth before looking straight at her, the calculating flare of his eyes searching as he thought back to the words he told her the day he massacred those Takigakure shinobi. _Remember what you witnessed here,_ he'd told her. _This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world._

And she _did_ remember. Even after all he'd put her through in her short, short life.

"That's right," he said detachedly. "Fool."

With nothing left to say and his evaluation completed, he nodded his head minutely towards the leader before taking his leave. Pein was dumbfounded at the exchange. Sakura didn't mind it all, turning when the door shut and smiling.

"Pei!" she exclaimed. He removed himself from his musings.

"You will address me as Leader-sama."

"Sa?"

He stared her down with a stern expression that couldn't quite meet the thread of softness he allowed himself to hold. "You'll learn."

And she would have to, because she had already seen too much. She had already learned to live with her surroundings. She had already made it apparent through her smiles and giggles that she would grow beneath her father's wing.

She had already sealed her fate.

The Akatsuki could not afford to let her go.


	5. Where Skies Go

Three year old Hoshigaki Sakura was only allowed out into the village at night when most of Ame's citizens had retired for the day and only the adult establishments were open and bustling, but Papa never took her near those. He said she wasn't old enough.

But she didn't care about not having to go as long as she was able to spend time with him. Normally on these days, her and her Papa would walk down a path to one of the training grounds in the village to work on cultivating her skills. She had to wear a cloak too because Papa didn't want her to get sick—but it wasn't like the pretty one he always wore.

Once, she asked him if she'd ever get one like his.

He tried to hide a sad smile from her and answered:

"I hope you never do."

She still didn't know what that meant, but at least now she understood that red clouds mean "'katsuki" and that "Leada-sama" was in charge of everything. As she kicked up puddles and walked down the dark streets with her hand in her father's, her curious stare darted from the buildings glowing softly in the moonlight up to the rain that fell to the tips of her toes.

"Why no moon?" she asked. Kisame tipped his head down at her, the tassels of his hat shifting across his shoulders.

"Because when it rains as much as this, the clouds cover the sky and you can't see anything else."

"Star?"

"No stars either."

"Sun!"

"The sun's a star too, pup, but it's a special one that only comes out during the day," he said, patting her hood covered head. "But I guess you've only seen the sun in your books, huh?"

Pein never stopped the rain and Sakura knew no different than that, so he took it upon himself to get as many picture books as he could to show her that skies could come in all kinds. The day after he'd done that, Sakura spent all her free time looking outside her window to look at the clouds above.

She asked why it never stopped.

Kisame laughed, pat her head, and said that "God" had a bit of a complex.

"I'll show you the light one day," he promised as he sobered up from the memory. She beamed at him. "I'll take you out of the village so you can see the moon and the stars and the sun. Whaddya think?"

She hopped into a puddle and let her yellow boots get covered in the muddy water. She giggled.

"Yeah!"

But the night wasn't just for late night walks and answering the infinite number of questions his little girl procured, but it was also his opportunity to train her without the rest of the village's wandering eyes. He taught her how to properly hold kunai and shuriken and had her aim for the crudely marked targets he carved in the trees. He started bringing her out when she learned to walk on her own and had her practice until she said she was tired.

Normally, she'd aim for the targets and ask questions about the types of trees she was trying to hit or why there wasn't a lot of grass when there was a lot of dirt. Kisame didn't know all of the answers, but he made sure to look them up and tell her the next day.

Though today, she started to ask some questions he hoped she wouldn't ask until she was older.

"Why we do 'tis?" Sakura asked. She stopped throwing and held up one of her kunai so her father could get a closer look. "Game?"

"This ain't a game, pup. You need to learn to protect yourself from the people that might come to kill me."

Confused, she tilted her head to the side.

"Kill Papa? Why?"

He gave her a bitter smile and bent down to kiss the top of her head. "Because I'm not a good man."

She shook her head and clung onto the front of his cloak. "No! Not! Papa a'ways good!"

"Not to them."

"Why?"

"'Cause I kill people too. I'm not a good man. I don't do good things, and I don't think I'll be able to make up for that."

"But _I_ love Papa," she protested. Her bottom lip started to wobble. "Papa a'ways good!"

Kisame carried her up as she wrapped her arms around his neck and tucked her face into his chest. She tried to blink away the water that welled up in her eyes.

"I love you too. I'm sorry it's like this."

She shook her head and sniffed. "No sowries. I love Papa."

He held her close and resolved to carry her back home; their training could be held off for another day.

He wondered, sometimes. About what he did to deserve such a sweet daughter like her.

::

Sakura met him completely by chance.

Her father told her to wait at the tower for Konan and not to move or go with any strangers. It didn't worry her that much, really. All the people who came in and worked closely with Akatsuki and everyone he didn't want her to meet were supposed to be on on missions.

But then a hunched figure hobbled in wearing the same cloak as "Ko-san", "Kazu-san", "Papa", and "Leada-sama".

::

Sasori entered the building, arriving from the mission earlier than normal and being thankful for the fact that it hadn't extended over the deadline like his previous few missions before his current one. He expected everything to be in its place when he entered and didn't think that there would be any visitors at this time of day.

He was displeased to find that he was wrong and that a pink haired _infant_ was sitting in Akatsuki-barred territory. A stray, obviously. What else would it be?

He approached her in his Hiruko form and loomed over her.

"You shouldn't be here."

The girl shook her head. "No. Papa say stay."

Sasori raised an eyebrow. Her father? There wasn't an idiot foolish enough to drop their daughter in a place that hailed the most dangerous criminals across the nations.

"You shouldn't try my patience, _girl_. Leave," he sneered. The girl shook her head harder and had the audacity to glare at him.

"Nu-uh! Papa say stay an' wait! Go 'way!"

With tried patience, Sasori unwound his poisoned coil and held it over his head like a scorpion threatening to impale its prey. A hint of interest flickered in his eyes when the girl slipped out a kunai from her sandal and held it in front of her protectively. Not in the exact proper position that it should be, but close enough for him to know that the child was currently being trained at her startlingly young age.

"It's a shame you'll die here," he drawled. "You would've been such an effective puppet if you hadn't gotten on my nerves."

Before he could move, however, a sea of paper sheets swarmed his blade to block it from aiming at the child. Irked, he watched as she took the chance to skitter around his reach and duck behind the newcomer who stopped her impending bloodshed.

She held onto Konan's cloak as she stood by her side.

"I wasn't aware you let pests into the building," he hissed. The paper detached itself as he let his coil retract back into his body.

"If she were a pest, she would have already been promptly exterminated," she answered. She placed a graceful hand behind the girl's back and gently nudged her forward. "This is Akasuna no Sasori. Sakura, introduce yourself."

Alarm bells suddenly blared in Sakura's head as the word _dangerous_ flashed in her mind's eye and the way she stiffened didn't go unnoticed by the other two in her company. Akasuna no Sasori. Missing-nin. Former Affiliation: Sunagakure. Current Affiliation: Akatsuki. But he didn't look like the red head in the pictures her father showed her.

"I'm Hosh'gaki Sak'ra. Nice t'meet'chu," the girl said reluctantly. Sasori cocked his head.

"Peculiar," he mused. He smirked at the way she avoided his stare and kept her head bent slightly downwards. She had the oddest reaction to the mention of his name. "Why weren't we informed of this development?"

"It isn't of any importance."

"The girl is an asset."

"Kisame-san is unwilling to allow her into the Akatsuki."

"Like forced association isn't something this organization partakes in," Sasori scoffed. "You did it to me. You did it to Kisame. Leader-sama did it to Kakuzu. You both are going to do it in the future."

He turned his attention back to the little girl—Sakura—and grinned beneath his facade. "Did you understand that, girl? You're Akatsuki's homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?"

"Sasori," Konan warned. His wooden tail swayed.

"I'm going to make my report," he said. His steel eyes glimmered with mirth. "If you told me the girl was already a puppet, I wouldn't have wasted my time considering making her one of my own."

Sakura ducked her head down as he passed them by and continued his original path towards Pein's office. Once he turned a corner, Konan strode off in the opposite direction and beckoned the girl to follow after her. They walked together towards the rooftop where the overhang extended over the ledge and allowed Sakura to stand on her tippy-toes and peer down at the village below.

"Ko-san?" Sakura called out. Konan looked up at the girl from her spot near the door. "Wha's a as-set?"

"Something or someone that can be used to gain an edge."

Sakura cocked her head but didn't look behind her.

"Why'm I one?"

The Angel of Ame exhaled quietly through her nose. The Akatsuki as a whole lacked certain sensibilities when it came to socializing, but there was no way they'd come to familiarize themselves with children before coming into the work they do. Then again, it's not like they needed a kindness in their lives. Kindness got criminals killed, and they had no inclination to treat Sakura unlike the way they treated the rest of the world despite who she was.

She didn't want to exude such kindness either because she didn't want to instill such a small child with a hope she would never find here, but Sakura reminded her of herself when she was younger.

Much, much younger when the rain wasn't cold and war hadn't scarred the land.

"Because you were born into Akatsuki," she replied. But she wished she wasn't. "When you're of age, you'll be sent on missions similar to the likes of your father. Assassination, infiltration, espionage, everything."

She wished Kisame had taken his daughter far away from this place.

"You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all."

She was so sorry that she couldn't tell the girl any different.

Sakura didn't reply for a long while and kept her bright green eyes down at where dark blobs went of up and down the streets. There were lots of words Konan used that she didn't quite understand yet, but there were enough words in there that she did know. And it brought her images of red, glinting metal, and faces twisted in screams.

"Like Papa?"

Konan nodded once. "Yes."

The girl turned around with her face carefully blank like the way her father taught her how to do in the face of those she wanted to hide her feelings from.

"Like... Like Kazu-san too?"

"Yes. Is there an issue with Kakuzu-san?"

Something flashed across Sakura's face.

 _"Remember what you witnessed here. This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world."_

 _"Because I'm not a good man."_

 _"Did you understand that, girl? You're Akatsuki's homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?"_

 _"You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all."_

She turned back around and went back to looking off the roof.

"No. S'okay.'

And it was. At least, for a little while.


	6. Shedding Skin

"What are the three principles of spending money?"

"Spen' less than you earn, invest early, an' make lots."

"How are you supposed to keep the money you save?"

"Have three or more 'ccounts at, uh, all diff'rent banks and aw'ways keep money on you."

"What are you supposed to do when people ask you for money?"

"Say you don't got any even if you do."

Kakuzu strode down the halls of the Ame Tower with four year old Hoshigaki Sakura in tow, toting around some of his financial journals as they navigated through the maze of hallways. Technically, he was no longer allowed to be alone with her after the mishap when she was a baby, but Konan was out, Pein had a series of meetings, and he needed an extra hand to sort through materials as he straightened out Akatsuki's treasury funds.

Besides, it's not like he was going to snap her neck like he'd done to his previous partner some months ago.

She actually _listened_ to what he had to say.

"Good. Money is the only thing that won't turn its back on you," he said. Kakuzu saw her bob her head in his peripheral vision and knew for a fact that she was already acting to remember his words. Her memory was surprisingly capable for a child her age, and he supposed he had to credit Kisame for her tutelage no matter how many silent threats he received from the other.

"Kazu-san, what're the things on your arm?"

They turned left down another corridor, and he paid no mind to the pair of black rings that encircled each of his forearms.

"Prisoner identification," he replied. "I was jailed for a short period of time before I broke out and defected."

"Former 'filation: Takigakure," she recited. He tilted his head.

"That's correct. Takigakure. Those were the shinobi I killed when you were in my care over three years ago. Do you recall?"

He missed the way her eyes shuttered and dimmed even with the smile still plastered on her face.

"Yeah."

"Hm. They signed their deaths off to me the minute they decided we were on equal footing. Assess the situation before acting accordingly. If you know you'll lose the battle, don't be a hero."

Sakura bobbed her head again. Another tenet to live her life by. What better ones to learn than from those who trudged through life's tar and lived to tell their tales?

Suddenly, a pale white hand erupted from the shadows and grasped her upper arm. She held the journals close to her so they wouldn't fall out of her arms as she stumbled back and her eyes shot up to the one who grabbed her. Sickly lips paired with bile-yellow eyes peered down at her.

Sakura's mind whirred.

Orochimaru of the Sannin. Missing-nin. Former Affiliation: Konohagakure. Current Affiliation: Akatsuki.

 _Dangerous._

He smiled.

"Sasori-kun told me about Kisame-kun's little one, but I just couldn't bring myself to believe him. It seems I was wrong," he mused. "Hello, child. How interesting it is to meet you here. What's your name?"

"Sakura."

It wasn't her that answered—she was too afraid of the way Orochimaru's eyes shone like snakeskin—but Kakuzu who stopped some steps away and looked back at who caused him such an inconvenience. She wriggled out of the Sannin's now loosened grip and hurried back to her current caretaker's side without uttering a single world.

Orochimaru chuckled. "Oh my, she's trained as well? Fascinating. Does she know other tricks? Fetch, perhaps. Maybe how to roll over."

Sakura decided then that she didn't like this man and refrained herself from bearing her teeth. Kakuzu's expression never changed from the blank canvas it already was.

"I have places to be. If all you're going to do is amuse yourself, then I'll be taking my leave," he said. The man held both his hands up in a gesture to back-off and allowed his smile to dip into a predatory smirk.

"I won't take up any more of your time, Kakuzu-kun. Have a marvelous rest of your day," the Sannin bid. His gaze wandered to the girl. "It was nice meeting you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura was happy not to return the sentiment and turned to follow Kakuzu down to Leader's personal library.

Inside was a small alcove tucked away in a corner filled with financial documents and statements for both Amegakure and the Akatsuki. Kakuzu spent much of his time in that room surrounded by facts and cold words that held no other meaning than the truth.

It was also the place he'd take Sakura the sparse times he was her designated guardian. Nothing productive could be wrought sitting in an apartment all day long, so he sat her down at her own table, left her with a pen and an accounting book, and set down a stack of money bundled by dates by her side for her to count.

"You might as well do something worth my time," he said. "Since Hoshigaki is so _adamant_ about keeping your education consistent, you'll be adding, multiplying, subtracting, and improving your writing skills." He pointed to the book he gave her. "Count each type of bill and put the number in the first section, put the worth of each collection of bills in the second section, add everything up in the third, separate them by the dates. The top row shows you an example. Understand?"

Sakura's brows pulled together as she both digested his instruction and inspected the accounting book for a firmer grasp of what she had to do. After a minute or so, she nodded.

"'kay."

Kakuzu turned from her and went off to do his own work.

::

It was an hour later that he was interrupted from his own treasury work by Sakura trotting up to him and waiting patiently with her hands clasped behind her back. He left her to stand for a few moments before finally addressing her.

"What?"

"I don't know anymore numbers," she said. He paused in his documentation.

"Where did you stop?"

She counted her fingers for a little bit before looking back up.

"One—One thou—? The number with the one first then a zero, a zero, and a zero."

One thousand. That was actually an impressive barrier for a child like her to reach, but with the way her father had been teaching her he couldn't say he was surprised. Kakuzu waved her off.

"Find a book on numbers."

"Where?"

"Figure it out."

She bobbed her head and smiled. "'kay!"

He watched her bound off from the corner of his eye before resuming his work.

That girl's happiness was too far displaced. Children didn't grow in this environment to come out all sunshine and rainbows or lived without a care. Soon, she'd learn what it was like to have her enemy's blood soaking her hands and feel how it was to live with the weight of the world against her.

Kakuzu's eyes slid to the side.

He could see it now.

She wouldn't make it too far in this world.


	7. Porcelain

"Papa, you have ta' tie my hair like _this_!"

"Like what? What kinda—okay, hold on, what was the first step? Make everything into a circle?"

Five year old Sakura giggled. "No, Papa, that's silly! You just gotta get all a' my hair and put it all together! Like a horsey's tail!"

Kisame fixed her hair to look like cat ears and grinned. "Like this?"

"That's a kitty!" Sakura laughed and pointed to her reflection in the mirror. "You need ta' do a horsey!"

A couple of bobby pins were set in his teeth as he pulled her rogue pink tresses together high at the back of her head. Finally, he took her favorite red ribbon and tied her hair up into the ponytail he spent the last year trying to get right and carefully pinned away any stray hairs that might fall in front of her face.

"Remember it's important to keep your hair up and away when you're out on the field, pup," Kisame explained, giving her shoulders a light squeeze. "Make sure it doesn't block your vision or get caught in your weapons. If you want to grow your hair out longer, then I guess I can teach you how to put your hair in a bun."

Sakura hopped off her stool and followed her father out of the bathroom. "A bun? Like a steamed bun?"

"Kinda like that," he said. He laughed when her nose wrinkled in distaste. "Trust me, when I say I'm going to put your hair in a bun it doesn't mean I'm gonna stick some bread on the top of your head. You know how many birds you're gonna attract?"

"I like birds!"

"You won't like 'em when they're chasing you around the village. Come on, pup, put on your shoes. You remember how?"

Sakura bobbed her head and hurried over to the door to plop on the ground and clumsily tug on her sandals. Kisame let a fond smile take over his face as he watched his daughter get herself ready for a day out. He really had nothing to worry about with her—she was such a good kid. Smart, always smiling, never complaining.

She deserved so much more than this.

Once Sakura wiggled her toes and made sure her footwear was on correctly, she popped up onto her feet and took hold of her father's hand.

"We'll see Mama now?" she questioned. Kisame made sure her cloak was on securely before opening the door and letting her step through first.

"Yeah, we'll go see her now."

"Can I pick the flowers?"

"'Course, pup. You can pick any ones you like."

::

Sakura chose a bouquet of lilies this time and carried it all the way to the cemetery without any help, and she was proud. She even carried it to her mother's grave: a slate gray stone tucked in a corner near the trees, _Hoshigaki Saki_ carved in the stone above the words _a kind nurse, a loving wife, and a mother who could have been_. Rain pooled in the etchings and the cracks of the brick walkway beneath their feet as she set down the flowers and back up against her father's legs, holding her hand up to grasp his once again.

"How'd you meet Mama?"

Kisame smiled sadly. She asked that a lot and never got tired of his answer.

"After I left Kiri, I wandered around for a bit before coming to Ame and moving to the dingy apartments down in the southern districts," he said, as he'd told her thousands of times before. Sakura kept her eyes on the treeline, but hummed to assure him that she was listening faithfully. "Not long after I moved in, she knocked on my door and offered me a plate of cookies. Then I slammed the door in her face and she yelled at me through the wood."

His little girl giggled.

"I had to open the door eventually, 'cause she kept yelling for me to take the cookies until I actually did. They were horrible," he continued warmly. It was some few minutes into his story when he felt Sakura's grip tighten and he stopped to look down at her. "Pup? What's wrong?"

"Why's it all... wavy?"

His eyebrows knit. "Wavy? What is?"

"Up there!" she exclaimed. Sakura used her free hand to point up at the high treetops. "It's... wavy. But trees aren't wavy. There's no wind or nothing."

It happened so fast.

The next thing Kisame knew, he'd caught his daughter before she crumpled to the ground, a deep gash pulsing blood from her right shoulder and a stained kunai embedded in the ground just behind her. One tug brought Samehada in front to shield her from other projectiles, and another tug shot a handful of shuriken towards the hidden assailants.

He gathered Sakura in his arms and shunshinned a good distance away to a high vantage point covered by an overhang, and only then did he register her soft cries and tears.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry," he murmured. He hurriedly reached into his back pouch and pulled out a small first aid kit. "I didn't know—I—I didn't think there'd be—I'm _so sorry_."

Someone attacked his baby girl in the heart of Akatsuki's operations. They targeted her. They _hurt_ her.

And he was so naive to think that she was safe whenever he was around.

He tried to push down his searing anger and gingerly turned her body to assess the damage. A four inch long wound ran diagonally from her shoulder to the back of her arm.

"Hurts," she whimpered. "P-Papa— _hic_ —hurts..."

"I know, pup, I'm sorry—I'll try to fix it, okay? I'll try to make the hurt go away."

Kisame took a cloth from the kit and paused. He knew he could hold a baby and care for her as much as his heart allowed, but his hands were calloused and rough and had killed by the hundreds. He could hold a baby, but he'd never had to clean such a fragile person's wound before. What if he hurt her even more?

She needed stitches. She was in so much pain. If he cleaned her wounds, he could press too hard and make it worse—

A nimble hand took the cloth from his hands, and he would've sighed in relief if he wasn't brimming with anger and worry.

"Your attackers are still loose in the village," Konan stated. She met the small sobs of 'Ko-san' by gently wiping away the dirt and blood from the weeping gash. "Pein-sama will have them apprehended, that is, if you don't get to them first."

Kisame tore his pained gaze away from his daughter and glanced down at the village from his high perch. Rage pulsed at the edges of his vision.

"Pa... Papa..."

"It'll be okay, pup," he said. He drew Samehada. "It'll be okay."

Then he jumped, Sakura's cries ringing in his ears and the intent of death hammering within the borders of his skull.

Amegakure witnessed wrath that day.

And it was wrath that made its streets run red.

::

"Kisame?"

"Killed every last one of them."

"And the girl?"

"Discharged from the hospital. She's running around like nothing happened."

Pein tilted his head and gazed out at the haze of rain over his village. It seemed that a group of genjutsu users had entered Ame under the impression of being missing-nin looking for refuge, but had turned a leaf when they discovered Hoshigaki Kisame—a source of a past grudge—had taken up residency in the village as well. The Akatsuki membership part was unknown to them, but he supposed that even if they had known, it wouldn't have stopped them from trying to enact their revenge.

Sakura had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, becoming a last-second victim because she was holding their target's hand. An accessible distraction, though one they hadn't cared to use to its fullest potential.

But genjutsu was never one of Kisame's strong suits and it would've taken him a short while to notice that they were hiding up in the trees, and that's exactly what caught his attention.

 _Sakura_ noticed something was wrong; little five year old Hoshigaki Sakura noticed a genjutsu tell without even knowing what it was.

Pein turned and strode back into his office.

' _Homegrown advantage, indeed_ _.'_


	8. The Blood Through Those Veins

"I'm going to give you a series of six tests," Pein explained. "You will perform them to the best of your ability in the time slots given. Do you understand?"

Sakura nodded firmly. She looked small in the chair opposite the Akatsuki Leader's desk, but she readily scooted forward when the first sheet of paper was slid over to her.

"You'll first complete the picture search. I'm going to start with basic shapes and colors, then we'll progress from there."

::

Sakura was in that office for seven whole hours before she trotted out with a smile and a new book for her to read.

Pein reclined in his chair as he held up one of her test results in his hands. The picture search started out with her naming basic shapes and colors as the basis until it steadily grew to the point where she had to look for one small, specific object in a cluttered sea on a black and white picture. Within ten minutes, she would always find what she was asked to look for. Within the hour, she completed nine sheets of complicated picture searches.

Next, they'd taken the following hour to work on pattern finishers. Blocks, dots, colors, numbers—he'd shown her complicated problems until it reached the level of comprehension of the average Amegakure chuunin. Word problems came after, and Pein was surprised to find that he didn't have to read the scenarios out to her. Some words she struggled with and asked definitions for, but her grasp for sentences and linguistic understanding was more than he anticipated. Her logic in her answers were that of her father, both expected and impressive.

The math was mostly calculations on projectile trajectory and decisions based on probability. Again, her capacity stayed on the typical chuunin level and not much more after that, but it was advanced for a six year old. Her vocabulary on shinobi terms came after that, and their definitions rang like she had them ingrained to the backs of her eyelids.

And last was a recollection of the Top 50 Shinobi currently listed in the Bingo Book. Name, affiliation, specialty, worth.

After she'd named every last one of them with their respective details without flaw, he gave her a book to pay for her silence and sent her on her way.

There wasn't much he could say about her physical attributes, but her mind made up for what she lacked. Hoshigaki Sakura wasn't like any other kid, nor was she someone who was going to be the smartest person to ever live. But she was intelligent, practical, logical.

She wasn't some prodigy.

She was _enough_.

"What are you thinking?"

Pein looked to the side at Konan who appeared at his desk and scanned the neat stacks of paper before him. She quickly analyzed the results and took a cursory glance at the office door where Sakura departed mere minutes ago.

"She also has a keen eye for detail," he remarked. "A notable trait in genjutsu users, as if her display last year wasn't an adequate demonstration. Bright, which is another. Though lacking in physical strength, she makes up for it with the recent results of her chakra control exercises." He paused briefly. "There has yet to be a genjutsu specialist recruited into the Akatsuki."

Konan felt the need to frown but steeled herself to maintain the blank expression that never left her face. "You're looking to recruit her now?"

"Not until her skills are groomed by her father."

"He doesn't want her in the organization."

Pein's eyes glowed in the warm lighting. "You act as if he had any choice in the matter. She was born to the Akatsuki."

He gazed out the window to the stormy gray skies. Konan, on the other hand, took to looking at the papers for a little longer before her Leader spoke up once more.

"She will thrive here, or she will die."

::

"Already?" Sakura whined. She protested weakly as her father picked her up and carried her to her room. "It's so early! M'not even"—a yawn—"tired!"

Kisame grinned. "You sound a bit tired there, pup."

"M'not," she mumbled. She curled closer to him and reluctantly let her eyes droop. "Stay 'wake."

Sakura was dozing off by the time he set her down and tucked her in bed with her little shark plushie. Rain pattered softly against the window as he moved about the room, silently picking up some of the books she'd forgotten to clean up earlier and storing them in the bookshelf on the other side of the room.

Personally, he didn't like reading for leisure. Literature had never been an easy spot for him and he never felt a particular urge to sit down and enjoy a good book. But Sakura absolutely _loved_ to read; big books, small books, picture books, textbooks—it didn't matter what she was reading as long as she was able to read it.

Kisame didn't see the appeal, but he encouraged it. Who was he to tell her what she should or shouldn't like?

As he put the last few books back where they belonged, he stopped short as he noticed the cover on one of them.

 _History of Konohagakure: The First Hokage's Reign_

He didn't remember getting this book. Flipping through it, he frowned at the notes jotted down in the margins as he recognized the handwriting that always outlined his mission assignments.

He sighed and addressed the new presence in the room. "Leader-sama gave her another one. What did he do?"

"Gave her a series of tests to assess her intelligence."

Kisame slid the book into the shelf before he turned and met Konan's even gaze. "Didn't I already tell you she's not gonna get involved?"

"Pein-sama has plans for her to be the genjutsu specialist of the organization," she informed, her voice as flat and smooth as the polished wood beneath their feet. He ran a hand over his face and motioned her out of the room, following close by.

At the sound of the shutting door, a pair of eyes fluttered open and stared after them in the midst of darkness and the sound of rain.

::

"You should've known Pein-sama would see her as an opportunity," Konan said. She quietly refused refreshments and a seat at the kitchen table, and watched as Kisame rummaged through his fridge. "He never expected a child to be born within his ranks, and it wouldn't have mattered if she was smart or not. She has _your_ blood running through her veins, and if that wasn't enough incentive, what she proved today is."

The fridge shut with a sharp snap.

"I don't care if he wants her because he's not getting her," he grit out. "I don't care what he thinks and I _don't care_ about his plans. Once Sakura's old enough to make her own decisions about her future, I'll let her do anything she wants but live a rogue's life."

He sighed.

"I don't want her turning into someone like me."

 _Someone like him._

Someone like him, who felt the thrill of killing those who couldn't step up to his level and give him a decent match. Who grinned and laughed at those who struggled for their life when their only option left was to hide and pray he wouldn't find them. Who always did find them in the end and tore their flesh from bone with a sort that quivered with the thirst for blood.

Who came home at the end of the day to embrace his daughter despite the blood that lined his cloak and the dying pulse of an adrenaline rush underlying his veins.

Konan couldn't see much of his face but imagined how resigned he must have looked. She felt a twinge of sympathy in her chest, having known both him and Sakura for so long, but didn't let it show.

"... You should have left with her when you had the chance," she mentioned quietly. Kisame sighed again.

"I know."

It was silent for a little while.

"You would have caught us if I ever tried," he refuted just as quietly as she. Konan closed her eyes and drew in an easy breath.


	9. As One Should Know

"Do you have the things you need, pup?" Kisame questioned. Sakura nodded, gripping the straps of her backpack. Papa said it was time to ree-low-kate for a few weeks, or stay in a different country for a little bit while Ame was getting 'sweeped' by some shinobi that weren't from there. She also heard from Leader-sama that it was customary because of Ame's 'suspicious' activity as of recently, and it had only been a matter of time until the other nations noticed.

So the Akatsuki would spread out and lay low until the 'suspicious'-ness tided over.

Or as her Papa said, it was going to be kinda like a vacation. She'd never been outside Amegakure before.

"We're gonna have to be real careful while we're out there," he said, tugging the hood over her head and picking her up. "Hunter-nin might be after me while we're out there and I might have to fight, but whatever happens, they can't know about you."

Sakura peeked over his shoulder as he began to move over the rooftops to the outer walls of the village. "They're gonna kill me?"

 _What did it mean if he would feel remorse at the death of the innocent?_

"They might," Kisame admitted, the thought ugly and bitter on his tongue. "You just gotta hope they're the ones that won't."

By the time they were in the thick forests, it was the dead of night. Humidity held hefty in the air with only Kisame's and Sakura's quiet words to fill the silence.

"Do you remember your cover story?" he asked. Before they'd left, he spent all of the night before crafting a reason for her being with him if she ever got caught, as much as it pained him to go through every inch of her life to rewrite him out of it. She nodded against his collarbone.

"My name's Sakura and I don't have a Mama," she recited. "Mama died when I was a baby and Papa was a merchant. He left a year ago and didn't come back. I don't know where he went. I live in Ame."

"Why were you with Hoshigaki Kisame?"

"He took me."

"Why?"

"A dis-trac-tion? I dunno why, but since I didn't have anyone he said no one would miss me," she said. She lifted her head and stared at her father's profile. "But that's not true, huh? You'd miss me if I was gone?"

 _What did it mean to be a "villain"?_

It was an honest question filled with childish curiosity, but her words enough made his heart curl up in an unsightly way. He stopped on a low branch to take a moment to press a kiss to her forehead before setting off again.

 _What did it mean to take the fall for another?_

"I'd miss you every single day, pup."

 _What did it mean to love someone?_

::

Yamashiro Aoba specialized in intelligence and was assigned to the team that was to gather information on an S-Class missing-nin that had been spotted lurking around Fire Country and was heading towards the other side of the mainland continent. That missing-nin had also been said to have caused the deaths of a platoon of genjutsu users in Amegakure a year back—he was armed, dangerous, and wanted dead or alive.

Aoba thought it was a bad idea to tail a renowned criminal like the one they were after, but he was a threat to both Konoha and the villages surrounding it and would be better off apprehended than have a chance to wreak the havoc he normally brought with him.

So he and his team settled in a small trading village where Hoshigaki had reportedly been headed and took their positions near an abandoned warehouse a block or two away from the only inn in town.

"I'm going to set explosives around the perimeter," one of Aoba's teammates informed, taking out a handful of tags as they stood under a tarp to shield themselves from the heavy rain. "If he really is coming this way, we should have a back up if he catches us."

"It won't work," commented another team member. "This is _Hoshigaki Kisame_ we're talking about. One of the Seven Swordsmen. Monster of the Mist. The Tail-less Tailed Beast. You think bombs are going to stop him?"

"Just let him do it. It won't hurt to take precautions," Aoba sighed. Their team leader finally turned her head towards them after carefully scanning their surroundings.

"Hoshigaki shouldn't be expecting us," she said. "When we track him, we'll gauge the situation. If we're in over our heads, we're high tailing the hell out of here—Hokage-sama wants at least some info on our guy. We can't give it to him dead."

::

Four hours into taking refuge in the merchant stop-over, Kisame could feel something wrong in the pit of his stomach. It started out as a small coil of unease when he first arrived, but it slowly snowballed into a cyst of paranoia that screamed at him to leave. But he couldn't. If he carried on any further in this pelting rain that extended his whole journey here, then Sakura had every real chance of getting pneumonia or hypothermia due to her young age and weaker immune system.

He glanced over his shoulder and watched her happily slurp her soup for a moment before gazing back out the window.

This is why he never took her on missions. Threats against him were expected.

Hell, _he_ wasa threat.

 _What did it mean to surrender yourself to become a demon?_

But those threats extended to her by default, and that was simply unacceptable.

An abandoned warehouse caught his eye from the edge of his window view, prompting him to feel for some of his chakra-suppressing seals he kept in his pouch to help in avoiding detection.

 _What did it mean to have never changed from who you once were?_

"Pup?" he called softly. She looked up from her meal.

"Yeah, Papa?"

"Leave your things here and come with me," he murmured. "You're gonna have to hide for an hour or two."

Sakura tensed at the serious expression on his face and obeyed immediately, pushing herself away from the small table and hurrying over to his side. Her hair was up in a ponytail, just like he told her, in case she had to fight anyone.

"Your cover story's really important, okay? Don't forget it."

She nodded.

"Good... and pup?"

She looked up at him, wide-eyed and waiting, and Kisame couldn't help but spot the poorly hidden fear at the edges of her stare.

"Remember I'll always come back for you."

::

"He's on the move," the team leader announced. "Yamashiro, stay here and mind the traps. You two, come with me. We're going to make sure he doesn't get away! Corner him to the warehouse if any chance comes!"

The coms echoed at the order and Aoba ran to the other side of the small merchant village, slipping through a broken window of the warehouse as the rest of his team shot after the blur in the distance. He landed on the concrete flooring with a soft _tap_. The explosives should be covering all four walls and the dry crates littering the area should be enough to fuel the fire for a big enough blast despite the rain outside. If he could find some gasoline and cover the—

 _Shiff._

He paused and cast an eye through the darkened building. A rat? Those were common enough.

 _Shiff._

 _Knock._

Okay. So not a rat. Aoba silently crept through the hole-ridden boxes and wood and slats and shards of glass until he happened upon a stack of old junk in one of the far corners. Preparing himself for a trap—as an unprecedented trap in a bomb trap wasn't on his list of most favorable situations—he peered at the source of the noise and braced himself for the worst.

But what he saw could be classified as something just as bad.

The scared little girl in front of him tried to edge herself away the moment she spotted his black hair and glasses.

Aoba panicked.

"Wh-What are you doing here?!" he sputtered. "Are you-you lost or something—oh my—you're not supposed to be here, it's dangerous!"

The girl didn't reply, only backing up even further against the rough walls. Her voice was small and timid, inquiring and sad, as she quaked slightly under his shocked stare. "Are you gonna kill me?"

His heart broke for her.

"No... No, of course no, I'd never..." he trailed off. A kid in a warehouse waiting for death? What were the chances? "What's your name?"

Her bottom lip wobbled. "Sakura."

"Sakura," Aoba repeated softly. He tried to take a step towards her, but she only tried to back up even more and he stopped to put his hands up in a sign of peace. "Sorry, sorry, I'll stay over here. Um, where are your parents?"

"Mama's dead. Papa hasn't come back in a long time," she answered quietly. "I live in Ame."

Amegakure was at least a week's journey from this part of Fire Country, and an even longer travel for civilians. Unless her father was some shinobi that he doubted existed in this village, he found it safe to deduce that her father was either dead or that she'd been abandoned.

A thought struck. Unless...

"Sakura, do you know who Hoshigaki Kisame is? A blue guy with a big sword?" he questioned. She shifted and sniffed, nodding minutely.

"He took me," she whispered. "A dis... distraction? He said 'cause I didn't have anyone, no one would miss- _hic_ -me..."

Aoba started panicking again once she started crying. He was about to reach out and try to calm her down, her being an obvious victim in this horrible turn of events, but his com crackled to life as the barking orders of his team leader shot through his ear drums.

" _ **Blow the whole-**_ _ksh_ _ **-damn-**_ _ksh_ _ **-Ya-**_ _ksh_ _ **-iro!**_ "

His hand flew to his neck to press the button of his communicator.

"The warehouse?!"

" _ **Hoshi-**_ _ksh_ _ **-headi-**_ _ksh_ _ **-loca-**_ _ksh_ _ **!**_ "

"But—"

" _ **NOW!**_ "

Aoba scooped Sakura into his arms before diving out of the building as quick as he could and set off the chain of bombs in his wake. The girl's pink hair fluttered freely around her shoulders as she stared up at the bright orange flames of the place she was told not to leave until Papa got back.

Papa.

"Papa said he was gonna come back for me," she whimpered, clinging onto the man's green vest. The fire was getting farther and farther away, and so was the village. "Papa said he was gonna come back..."

::

Kisame was a minute away from the warehouse when it exploded and sent him soaring back a good few meters. He coughed and wiped his face with the hand he hadn't bloodied and willed himself to look up at the mix of orange and ash that engulfed the whole building.

His hands flew into a flurry of hand signs and used the last third of his chakra to manifest a water dragon from the rain to use it to douse the fire in its entirety. Heaving his body up, he ran inside before the fire completely died down.

" _Sakura_!" he shouted. Kisame went to the center of the blackened building and looked around. " _SAKURA_!"

Then he went to the corner he left her in. It was all scorched to hell just like the rest of the place, and the junk he'd hidden her behind had collapsed into a pile of ember and dust. He desperately pushed all the pieces aside, throwing them behind and beside until he got to the bottom.

More ash. More dust. More embers.

No Sakura.

But in that pile of ash, dust, and embers was a single red ribbon singed at the ends and threadbare.

 _What did it mean to be alone again?_

Kisame stepped out into the rain with the the ribbon in his white-knuckled grip, water seeping into his hair and pouring down his face.

 _"She'll never survive in this world,"_ was what they told him. _"Children aren't born in this circumstance to come out alive. She'll die on her own or someone will come and kill her because she's_ your _daughter. You might as well say your goodbyes now."_

He never believed them. But he hated to admit they were right.

Kisame took one last look at the warehouse behind him before drawing in a shuddering breath and walking back to the inn to gather their—his. Things.

He... He finally had the chance to be the father he always wanted, no matter how short lived, no matter how harshly he failed.

He tried, but it wasn't enough.

 _Because what_ _did it mean to raise a child when their father was a man that let the world leave her dead?_


	10. Honor

When Kisame entered his office alone after weeks out of Ame, Pein could feel the shift in the air as his subordinate quietly stood in front of the desk. Dark circles wound around his half-lidded eyes as his gaze stayed everywhere else but the rings of his leader's eyes.

"Report."

"I was intercepted by a team of Konoha shinobi in Fire Country," he informed. "Three of them attacked me head on and I managed to kill two while the leader ordered someone who stayed behind to—" he drew in a deep breath—"detonate a warehouse they planned to trap me in. They failed and the remaining shinobi presumably retreated."

He looked defeated. Pein pondered the change for a brief moment then laced his fingers atop his lap and leaned back against his seat. "And Sakura?"

Kisame stayed silent with his eyes trained downwards and lips pressed into a grim line. He said nothing more—he didn't need to—as his oral report was taken and was dismissed from the office. He hadn't made it three meters down the hallway when Konan passed him by and greeted him with the barest of nods.

"Kisame-san," she acknowledged. "I take it you and Sakura have just returned?"

He avoided her stare, keeping his gaze straight ahead in a manner wholly unlike him.

"Yeah, I made it back," he said. At her further inquiring gaze, he sighed and moved his eyes up to meet her own—hazel and cold, the way they've always been. "I'm the only one who made it back."

Konan didn't stiffen, nor did she make any inclination that the words affected her. She merely nodded once in understanding. "I see. My condolences, Kisame-san."

"... Thanks."

She continued on her way and he kept walking the other, a red ribbon burning a hole in his pocket and silence reigning heavy on his shoulders the whole road towards his empty home.

::

His name was Yamashiro Aoba and he said that she would be safe in Konohagakure. He also said nothing bad was going to happen her, that her kidnapper was gone, and that she was going to stay at an orphanage headed by an extremely kind matron until she was going to get adopted into a nice family.

Aoba told her all of this in assurance—but as much as the good intention was there, Sakura couldn't help but bear the crushing thought that she'd never see her Papa again.

"I'm positive you'll love Konoha," he said. He carried her on his back as he jumped through the treeline, the other only surviving member of the team far ahead to scout. "It's always sunny there with barely any rain. You said you were from Ame, right? I know this might be a big change for you, but I think you'll be just fine."

Always sunny. Papa promised he'd take her to a sunny place one day, and it felt wrong to go to a place like that without him there too.

"Papa was a shinobi," she murmured. "I want to be like him."

"Oh! We have a great Academy in Konoha and, er, how old are you, Sakura?"

"Seven."

"Seven," Aoba repeated. "Well, that's one year later than normal, but I'm sure you can get tested in to transfer into your year if you know enough. Have you been taught some things related to the shinobi arts?"

Sakura ducked her head. "Yes."

"Maybe you'll even be a little advanced. The matron shouldn't mind you joining the Academy either, because I do know of some of those kids who attend classes. There's also—"

She let him trail off into explanations and the circumstances surrounding her arrival, but all she could think about was her Papa and the Akatsuki and everything they'd told her. After Leader-sama gave her all those tests, he said she was smarter than a lot of the other kids her age and that she should use that to her advantage. And Papa said he already knew she was smart before all that and told her that even if it was good to know a lot of things, it was better to keep it hidden.

It was always better to be underestimated than overestimated—better to keep an ace up her sleeve than for her enemy to know what she was really capable of.

So if she took that and put it with this Academy... then...

Then she shouldn't do her best like she did with Leader-sama's tests, right? So they wouldn't find out what she really did know and wouldn't expect a lot from her.

"—Sakura?"

She blinked and moved her attention back to him. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were tired and wanted to take a break. Konoha's only a few more hours away, but if you want to stop for a bit, that's okay."

"We don't have to," she replied as she shook her head. "I'm not tired."

Aoba gave her a small smile and continued to shoot off through the trees.

He wasn't a bad guy, Sakura noted as she quietly analyzed him from her spot against his back. Papa always told her that Konoha shinobi might be strong, but they were always going to be the weakest of heart when it came to emotionally driven situations. Not everyone was like that, but if she had to ever appeal to someone's better nature, it was always a good idea to do it in front of a Konoha shinobi.

Sakura looked up at the trees and the way they passed her by. They were so green and light, unlike the damp, dark ones scarcely spotted around Amegakure. These trees were ones that basked in the sun and grew big and strong for all the world to see.

Resolved, she shut her eyes and made a promise to herself as the wind blew against her cheeks. Once she was able to hold the world on her shoulders, she was going to see him again and show them—show everyone—that Hoshigaki Sakura wasn't meant to die like they thought she would.

She was going to be a strong shinobi, just like her Papa.

And no one was going to stop her.

::

Pein tapped his fingers against his desk. Once again, an unprecedented incident had changed his plans and came to cause a minor setback in his operations.

Hoshigaki Sakura was dead.

Unfortunate, considering he was already planning so much for her in the future. She was to be granted the vermilion ring and a place on the right ring finger on the Sealing Statue as a shinobi with a prowess for genjutsu and intelligence with maybe a touch of swordsmanship as well to match her father, but he expected her to be more intellectually inclined than others.

Now, he was led to find another candidate to fill her place.

It made him wonder who could possibly fit the slot Sakura left behind.


	11. Safest in the Background

**July**

The sun was almost too bright, but she managed. She stayed inside if she could, sat in the shade if she was ever outside, and liked to keep her curtains drawn shut if she was ever alone in her shared room at the orphanage. The other kids called her weird at worst and made small talk at best, but she was the new kid in a new village whose smile almost looked... _predatory_. Like a shark, almost.

But the matron monitored things so that nicknames and teasing never escalated to bullying, asking little Sakura if anything the other kids said hurt her feelings.

"No," she replied to the kind old woman who ran the center. "S'not like it's gonna hurt me or anything."

"Even so, Sakura-chan, tell me any time you're feeling uncomfortable and we can get that sorted right away."

She nodded. Then tipped her head to the side. "When can I join the Academy? Yamashiro-san said I could."

"The new school year starts next month, dear," the matron smiled. "A couple weeks before it starts, someone will come to take you down to the school and ask you some questions before you get enrolled in your proper year. Now, the others have gone outside to play. Would you like to join them?"

Sakura glanced out the window at the twenty or so other kids that lived at this particular orphanage. She could see their smiles and hear their laughter, but she couldn't say any of it really caught her attention. The only people she saw on a regular basis were Papa, Konan-san, Kakuzu-san, and Leader-sama. None of them ever played... _tag_ or _kickball_ or whatever everyone else called those games.

"Can I stay inside and read?"

The matron sighed and pat the girl's head. "If that's what you want, dear."

::

Kisame stepped into his apartment and called out an "I'm home!". He waited for the pitter-patter of feet and an exclamation of _Papa!_ in greeting, but he received no such thing.

First, he wondered if something was wrong.

Next, he remembered.

Then, he shut the door behind him with quiet click and breathed in the air of his deathly quiet home.

 **August**

The test papers in front of her reminded her of the ones Leader-sama had given her on more than once occasion, only they weren't nearly as hard and were worded more like picture books instead of textbooks. Sakura felt the watchful eye of her examiner to her right as she scanned the thirty questions with a sharp eye. If she answered all of them quickly and correctly, she'd be put above her year and probably be watched since she was the "victim" of a recent mission, raising suspicion. But if she got too many of them wrong, they might start her over from the beginning and she'd again be the odd one out and would never fully settle.

"Twenty more minutes," the examiner informed. Sakura tapped her pencil three times against the table before steadily and deliberately answering twenty-five of the thirty questions right. After the examiner checked her paper once time was up, he smiled down at her. "If you follow me, we'll start on the physical tests."

He reached down to pick up his clipboard and tucked it against his side, but not before she spied the average for a mile lap for an Academy student her age.

Four to ten minutes.

She figured she'd stick to nine minutes and be safe, and as she ran, she counted down precisely from five hundred and forty seconds until she reached the finish line at zero seconds remaining on the dot.

Next was kunai throwing—something she'd done with Papa religiously enough that the distance the examiner placed her at was so close that she found it almost unfair. But, ten kunai were given to her and she sent three in the center, five in some other part of the target, and two astray.

"Congratulations, Sakura," he examiner grinned. "You'll be starting with Year Two at the beginning of next week."

She returned the smile for a brief moment before looking away.

Papa used to grin like that all the time.

::

He was in a sort of daze when he started preparing dinner. His mind was elsewhere while his hand was stirring something on the stove, and as he prepared to set the table for that night he grabbed a pair of plates and set them down.

Kisame stopped and stared when an itching feeling crawled up the back of his neck. Something was off, but what was it? He turned the stove off, didn't burn the food, set the table...

His lips pursed into a grim line as he picked up the second plate and silently slid it back into the cupboard.

 **September**

The students at the Academy weren't much different than the ones at the orphanage. She kept her head high and they left her alone as she paid less attention in class and read the higher-level textbooks she snuck in from the other classes. And it's not like the lessons were anything interesting anyways. Papa already taught her everything she needed to know for basic training and there was no use in sitting through something twice when she could spend that same time learning something new.

"Psst," someone whispered from behind her. Sakura glanced over her shoulder at a sleepy looking kid with mussed up brown hair and a cute little puppy wagging its tail in his hood. "You're the new girl, right? Sakura?"

Her brows furrowed. "Yes. And you're Inuzuka Kiba."

"Don't got a surname?"

"No. Problem?"

"Nah, there's a bunch of kids that don't have one either," he yawned. "But ya know, the bell ran a couple a' minutes ago and we're the only ones left in class."

She looked around them and realized that they were indeed the only ones in the room. She was so engrossed in her reading that she hadn't realized the day had already ended, and even the teacher had taken their leave. Huh. When she looked back at Kiba, some brightness emerged from his eyes as he grinned.

"I wasn't paying attention, I guess," Sakura shrugged. Kiba's grin widened at that, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"Let's ditch tomorrow."

" _What?_ "

"Come on," he goaded. "I don't pay attention either and it's not like we're gettin' anythin' done sittin' here."

She closed her textbook. "I get your point, but you gotta keep working on your grades, right? Why would you wanna ditch?"

"My grades aren't that bad!" he protested, nose wrinkling and mouth pouting. Sakura slid out of her seat and approached the teacher's desk at the other side of the room. She felt for the other signatures down the hall and out the window, and when she found none, she slipped a bobby pin out of her hair and crouched in front of a locked drawer.

Kiba shot up to his feet. "What are you doing?!"

A few seconds passed until there was a click and Sakura pulled out a small stack of papers, ignoring her classmate's incredulous gaping.

"Inuzuka Kiba," she read. "Arithmetic: D. Problem Solving: D. History: F. Reading and Comprehension: F. Sc—"

" _Did you seriously just break into the teacher's desk ta' tell me off on my grades?! Seriously?!_ "

"I'm proving my point," she said. She placed his grades back in the stack, closed the drawer, and locked it like she'd never picked it in the first place. "We can ditch if you want, but only if you get your grades up."

Sakura walked back to her seat to gather her things before taking her leave with Kiba staring after her in awe and disbelief, and Akamaru yipping like he'd witnessed the best thing that day.

"See you tomorrow, Inuzuka-san," she bid.

::

When he returned home for the afternoon, he slipped off his sandals and placed them in the right corner of the genkan like he always did. He'd been sent on a mission a few weeks ago to off some rich bastard causing problems with Ame, and now that his adrenaline had died down, all he wanted to do was nap the rest of the day.

Kisame looked to the side of his sandals at a far smaller pair—untouched and collecting the dust of a few months.

He looked away and continued walking inside.

 **October**

It was progress report day at the Academy.

Honestly, Sakura didn't particularly care about hers. For each intellectual subject, she kept in mind to keep her grades within the 80%-95% range; about average but nothing noteworthy, and for her physical tests she made sure to keep rank between 12th and 15th of her thirty student class; in the upper half but not in the top ten. She was a well rounded student—jack of all trades, master of none, and she wanted to keep it that way in the eyes of Konoha's shinobi system.

Those who excelled were watched.

Those in the background were safest.

Suddenly, a sheet of paper dangled in front of her face and her vision was filled with a cluster of letters. B, C, C, D, C, C, C.

She tilted her head backwards and met Kiba's wolfish grin.

"There's this cool place I found when I was walkin' with Akamaru. Lots of grass, no one around, perfect place to chill. Wanna go during class tomorrow?"

A small smile reached her lips. "Why not?"

::

Kakuzu sat in his alcove of Leader's personal library like he always did, documenting both Ame's and the Akatsuki's funds and basking in the pure silence of his surroundings. There was no scritch-scratch of pens, flipping pages, nor a small form taking up the space of his peripheral vision.

Hoshigaki Sakura had been dead a little over three months, and if he were any less the exacting person he was, he would have said, "I told you so."

What else was he to expect? That girl had been doomed the moment Kisame thought it was a good idea to have a child in an organization that spilled more blood than any other like itself. Hundreds of people didn't die just to have one grow up in its wake.

Sakura was not born to have a future.

Kakuzu's finger's twitched over the accounting book filled from cover to cover with her handwriting and resisted the urge to crumple it under his grasp. Instead, he stood and tucked it in the shelf that filled with the other accounting books, left to collect dust and to not be touched for years to come.

But... that didn't mean she didn't deserve one.

 **November**

"Does it snow here?

"Eh, sometimes. But, like, only when we're really in the middle of winter. Like in December," Kiba said. He tugged his hood lower and patted Akamaru who snuggled in the front of his jacket. "What about Ame?"

"It just rains."

"That's it? Rain? Must've sucked."

"You get used to it," Sakura replied. Their spot on the roof of the Academy allowed them the view of the street and Hokage Tower to the side, but their seats by the ventilation blocked anyone from seeing them from the Hokage Office window. She kept their ditching schedule to a maximum of three days a week and would suspend any ditch days if Kiba's grades dropped down to the horrors they were before.

He called her weird. She called herself practical.

"I don't even know what you're doing in this class," he said as he sifted through her book bag. He saw some of Year Two's workbooks all filled out for the remainder of the year and some old texts from the library. "Seriously. We started school three months ago and you're already done with the curriculum. _How?_ "

"I'm just that good."

He snorted and plucked out the workbook dedicated to arithmetic and flipped to the back where all the harder problems were. He raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, the circumference of a circle is... 18.84 meters..." read Kiba. "What's the circle's radius?"

Sakura paused for a moment. "Three. Approximately."

"Uh-huh," he muttered. He scanned through all the work she'd done on the page before turning to the answer key. "You're right."

"Yup."

"Then how come you did all the work and got _five_ in the book?" he questioned. His brows pulled together in confusion as Akamaru whined, sharing his sentiment. Sakura cast him an easy look, her bright eyes gleaming against the pale of her skin as she grinned.

"I can't be right all the time."

She could. If she really wanted to. But Kiba only shook his head and stuffed her books back in her bag before plopping against the roof with a sigh. "Seriously, you're so weird."

::

It was... odd, sometimes. Trying to adjust to losing something when it had been a part of your life for a number of years. She couldn't say she was immensely affected—not in the way Kisame was—but it was there, simmering under her skin and reminding her that not all things lasted forever.

Sakura had been something of a razor thin light that broke through the gray clouds of Amegakure. She was smart, cheery, and had the same blunt honesty her father had. Everything about her was so warm no matter how cold the rain got the worst days.

But then she died of circumstance: a viable option for shinobi. Kisame never took her on missions for a reason, and the one time he did, the balance didn't tip in his favor.

Konan's eyes swept to the rain-stained streets of her village.

In her world, she'd always been a little lonely.

Though recently, she'd been some more lonelier than that.

 **December**

It was the first Christmas she was spending without her Papa and she was spending it out all on her lonesome in the middle of Konoha's empty streets. The barest freckles of snow fell from darkened skies and everywhere she turned it was deserted. People were spending the night with their families, around Christmas trees, with friends, with gifts, with warm hearts.

This year, she had no one.

Sakura tightened her dark green jacket around herself as she gazed up at the Hokage Monument sculpted with the four visages of the ones the village trusted enough to lead them.

Were Kages fools? Did they have their faces carved in stone because people believed they could make the world a better place? But the Fourth suffered a premature death where he never got to see what his village had become.

Kindness was natural, but an overabundance didn't exist. Blind hope was a false prophet, and anyone who thought different saw the world through rose-colored glasses.

 _"Remember what you witnessed here. This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world."_

Forcing her eyes away, she trudged the streets even more until she came across an empty playground. Finding no harm in staying there a while, she sat down on one of the swings and reflected.

She knew she wasn't like the other kids and why she didn't get along with a lot of them, and it was only because she said and did things to a logic they didn't want to hear.

When they claimed adults were stupid, she said they weren't. With as much life experience as they had, it was only right for them to try and gift it to the newer generations in hopes that their mistakes would never be repeated. Then when they complained about doing things over and over again, she would tell them that repetition was practice and practice made it less likely for one to get killed on the battlefield. After, they'd attack her on her reading and push her to answer why she would do it all the time instead of working physically like they did.

A sword can't be used without a hand to guide it, she said. If there was no strategy to an action, then the action was useless.

Sakura had been gifted with a blunt tongue, and maybe that was what made her off-putting to so many others. She didn't know why Kiba stuck around—maybe because of the novelty of how much she didn't care about things that shouldn't matter. If he stayed, fine. If he left, fine.

She wouldn't let those things wear her down, because she was her father's daughter, and her loyalty would always be with him.

 _"Because I'm not a good man."_

She wouldn't be a tool to Konoha. She refused to be. No one owned her and no one _would ever_ own her. That was a crucial tenet in a lot of Papa's teachings. When she grew stronger, he would let her make all the decisions she wanted for herself as long as she knew what she was doing and understood the consequences. Papa said he would help her to where she wanted to go, but after that, she was free to be _free_.

And he made sure to tell her that no one could take that away from her.

 _"Did you understand that, girl? You're Akatsuki's homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?"_

Sakura let out a puff of air and watched as her breath clouded and dispersed like smoke from a lit cigarette. And she would grow stronger. She'd be strong like Leader-sama, like Konan-san, like Kakuzu-san, like Papa. She would be feared across the nations just like them and she'd be a presence the world would never forget.

But she had time. She would find out all of Konoha's secrets, work around them, then mold them all to make them her own.

She would master swordsmanship, become a genjutsu master, excel in her studies, then find Papa again.

 _"You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all."_

::

Kisame sat in his pup's room, his eyes on his hands and his memories overwhelming his senses. Sakura... Sakura had grown up in this room. This was where he built her crib, where she learned to walk, where she begged him for stories, where she told him she loved him every night before she went to bed.

Now he sat there, wondering.

How long would it take him to convince himself to store everything away?

 **January**

Iruka glared at the five students sitting in a row before him, a vein popping in his forehead as he looked over them. "I hope you all understand why you have detention this afternoon."

The first in the row was Akimichi Chouji. He twiddled his fingers in his seat and offered a meek smile up at his teacher. Beside him, Nara Shikamaru yawned and slumped forward like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Um, Shikamaru and I keep skipping class to go to the practice hall?" Chouji queried. Next to Shikamaru was Uzumaki Naruto, a boy whose face was scrunched up in disdain.

"I spray painted the class next door, dattebayo," he admitted with a huff. To his left, Kiba crossed his arms over his chest and had Akamaru laid over his unruly fluff of brown hair.

"You caught me ditching at the park," he grumbled. And _only_ because he didn't run as fast as his ditching partner, who in fact was the last person in the row and had her eyes trained to some sort of book in her lap. Iruka cleared his throat. She didn't look up. He sighed.

" _Sakura._ "

She raised her head and blinked. "I punched a girl in the nose."

Kiba scrambled to sit upright. His eyes blew wide and sparkling as his mouth formed a pointed grin. "Ami?"

"Who else?"

"High-five!"

" _No!_ No high-five!" Iruka interrupted. He flailed his arms to intercept to his two students' cheer at _assaulting a fellow classmate_. "You don't hit other students and you certainly don't _celebrate_ it! Now all five of you are going to sit here and do your work for the next two hours." He handed each of them a work packet. "No talking."

When he turned, Kiba and Sakura snuck in a quiet fist-bump behind his back before starting their punishment.

As usual, Sakura finished hers within thirty minutes.

And as usual, she made sure to get at least five wrong.

::

He'd been cleaning the couch when he pulled out a blue shark plushie from between the cushions. The thing was worn and the color had faded with use, but every thread was in place and its beady eyes stared back up at him like it first did when he bought it all those years ago.

Kisame had forgotten that it was here.

He stared at it as he held it between his hands and solemnly marveled how small it was compared to his palms. He could put it away like all her other things—in the closet he probably would never open in a long, long time— _but Sakura loved it so much_.

So he ended up leaving it on his dresser in his room as the only brightness inside gray walls and charcoal-colored bed sheets.

 **February**

"Why's your ear like that? I mean, no offense or anything."

Sakura tucked her hair behind her ear to make it more visible and continued reading. She'd nearly forgotten how badly her outer left ear was mangled. She herself couldn't remember what weapon or technique made the injury, but she could remember the circumstance she was in. She could never forget it. "One of the people who watched me didn't care about being careful."

"... O-Oh."

Kiba blinked rapidly and returned to his work.

::

Kisame was doing some arbitrary cleaning when he opened one of his cupboards and saw the Tropical Sunrise candles collecting mounds of dust in the far back corners. A whole new feeling welled up in him—regret, shame, and far more disappointment in himself.

He hadn't seen Saki since Sakura...

He reached for one of the candles and popped open the top, taking in the scent of citrus before setting it down on the counter and lighting it with one of the matches he stashed away in the drawers.

 **March**

Sakura sat down at the long dinner table with the matron sat right across from her as she read a letter addressed from the Academy.

"Oh my, dear... It says here that your attendance record is rather dismal," the matron said. "Have you been ditching? That could affect your school performance."

The girl kept her hands folded neatly on her lap as she respectfully refuted the claim. "My grades aren't bad. My behavior hasn't been getting in the way of my studies. I'm not being a negative influence to my peers. With those reasons, I'm not doing anything fundamentally _wrong_ , so I shouldn't be punished, should I?"

The matron sighed warily. "I don't know how you're so cold, Sakura-chan. Don't you want to make a lot of friends? To be adopted?"

"No," Sakura answered simply. "I appreciate what you're doing for me, but Konoha law states that once I become a genin, I'll be considered an adult and I can live on my own. You'll only have to bear with me a few more years."

Sensing the conversation had come to an end, rather reluctantly on the matron's side, she excused herself from the table and climbed the stairs to her shared room at the orphanage. The other girls should be asleep by now, and it would give her enough time to continue her reading until she fell asleep.

But it was weird. She felt like she was forgetting something today.

::

Kisame arrived at Saki's grave with a bouquet of lilies in his hands.

"I'm sorry."

His hands tightened around the stalks as they began to quiver.

"She would've been eight years old today."

 **April**

"It was your birthday last month?!" Kiba shouted. "Why didn't you say anything?!"

"I was supposed to say something?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed. It was the middle of lunch hour and most of the class had taken their break outside or in the hall. Kiba and Sakura stayed in their area, though, with Sakura's feet kicked up on a desk with a book in her lap and Kiba sat right beside her legs. Akamaru yipped from his place stretched out across the desk. "It's like—It's a thing that always has to be celebrated! Didn't you have birthday parties or whatever with your friends back in Ame?"

Papa would try to bake her white chocolate chip cookies on her birthday and would get her a small strawberry cake they would share at the table.

She looked up at him. "I didn't have any friends."

"... No? Not even one?"

"If my father wasn't at home he'd leave me with one of his co-workers," she said. "I didn't know anyone my age."

"That's... That's kinda sad," he murmured. Kiba scratched his painted cheek and shared a quick look with Akamaru. Sakura looked up from her book.

"Why?"

"Well, 'cause, you're supposed to have friends your age so you're not socially stupid. That's what my mom says. But she does keep nagging me that I'm not hanging out with anyone in my class enough. That's not true, though," he huffed. Sakura glanced at the clock before shutting her text.

"It's not?"

"Nope," he quipped. He slid off the desk and fluffed his jacket with a grin. "'Cause I always hang out with you."

As the bell rang, the class flooded into their seats.

And the next day, Kiba gave Sakura a cup of anmitsu as a late birthday present.

::

There was no thunder today and the rain was much lighter than normal, but the air was still as cold as it was unforgiving.

Konan lifted her tea to her lips. "I imagine the change hasn't impacted your work too much." _I know this must be hard for you._

Kisame stared down into his own cup, the low light barely reflecting his hard features. He looked far more tired than usual—the thrill of killing didn't last as long, his bloodlust came on quicker, his crude grin didn't hold as much satisfaction as it used to.

"My work wasn't affected." _But everything else won't be the same._

She took a sip and kept the ceramic cup between her fingers. Its inviting warmth seeped beneath her skin as her frigid stare observed the shinobi in front of her. He was slouched in his seat, defeated and morose.

"It's been ten months, Kisame-san."

"Nine months, two weeks, six days," he corrected quietly. Kisame pushed his cup away and dragged a hand over his face. "It doesn't get any better."

Konan felt for him. Truly. Sakura had been the only source of his happiness ever since his wife passed, and now that she was gone too, he had nothing but her memory to live by. "She's in a better place."

His gaze filled with sadness, but there was a sparkle of hope in those black, beady eyes. "I know."

 **May**

Aoba patiently waited outside the Academy with his hands clasped behind his back and the sun glinted on his dark glasses. The Hokage suggested that it was a good time to check on her progress and see how well she was fitting in with the rest of the kids. He was hesitant at first, but he was the one who took her from that warehouse and brought her to live in Konoha.

He snapped out of his musings when the bell rang and students started trickling out, and it wasn't until the last batch of kids that he saw Sakura ambling behind with a textbook tucked under her arm and an ear turned to a chatty brown-haired boy at her side.

"—believe Akamaru instead of you," she said. The boy dawned an aghast expression as the puppy at their feet barked happily. He glared down.

"Shut up! She's just saying that so she doesn't hurt your feelings!"

The puppy barked again and Sakura pointed. "I think he's on my side."

"Of course he's on your side! You chose him over me!"

"Akamaru doesn't get D's on his tests."

"Akamaru doesn't _take_ tests!"

Aoba's lips quirked upwards. From what he learned when talking to the matron, Sakura was far from the sociable kind. She was rather cold in her manner and addressed things rather bluntly and honestly even when a situation called for some tact, but he supposed that came from her upbringing in a less-than-pleasant place like Ame.

He was glad she made at least one other friend.

But before he could call out to her, her eyes flickered his direction for the briefest moment. She stopped walking and fully turned towards the boy. "Kiba, I need to do something. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya, Sakura!" he exclaimed. He and Akamaru turned to walk down their street, but not before he waved over his shoulder. "And I'll bring those chips I was talking about earlier!"

She waved back, then turned to Aoba with ease and reservation that was so unlike her when he first took her from the warehouse. Though it was strange she noticed him right away. It didn't say anywhere in her files that she was able to detect chakra signals.

"Sorry to bother you on a school day, Sakura. And sorry if I interrupted any plans with your friend," he greeted. She shook her head and hiked her book bag higher on her shoulder.

"It's fine. What did you need, Yamashiro-san?"

"I just wanted to check up on you and see how you've been," he said. "How's Konoha been treating you?"

Sakura looked ahead of them and unconsciously drew closer to the shadows so the light wouldn't touch her. It was a bad habit of hers and steadily grew as the days passed, and only because Ame was so familiar and this place... _wasn't_.

"Konoha's been fine," she replied with a small shrug of her shoulders. "But it's just like you said. There's a lot of sun."

::

Kisame tried to repair the ribbon as best as he could. He stitched the frayed ends washed off the ash and coated it with a special preserve to toughed its tensile strength. When he finished he sat on the couch, laid Samehada across his lap, and tied the ribbon just at the bottom of the skull hilt of his sword.

Now wherever he went, he'd always carry a little piece of her with him.

And wherever he went, he'd be fighting for a chance to see her again one day.

 **June**

Tsume cast a determined eye in the crowd, Kuromaru at her side as he diligently sniffed the surrounding area. She'd just been informed that Kiba had been cutting class straight or a _week_ , and if he wasn't about to tell her where his scrawny little ass was going, she was going to find out herself!

"That little brat never takes his studies seriously!" she growled. "No matter how many times I tell him, he thinks ditching is more fun! How is he gonna be a competent shinobi at this rate?!"

Kuromaru huffed in agreement. Some moments passed before he and Tsume raised their heads at the same time, their noses catching a scent on the path towards the arcade. She bared her sharp canines. "When I'm through with him, that brat is gonna wish he was at the Academy instead of with me!"

They stalked off towards the arcade. It was in a decently sized building always packed with children and civilian teenagers and of course _Kiba_ would be there—it was the farthest thing away from school and the perfect place to ignore all his homework. But when they got here, her son was nowhere inside.

Rather, he was on the roof.

"The roof...?" Tsume muttered. Being at the arcade and not playing any of the games was so unlike Kiba that it was borderline suspicious. Quietly, she and Kuromaru crept up the side of the building and peeked their heads up over the side.

Kiba was there. As was Akamaru. And across from them, sitting in the shade of the ventilation system was a young girl that must've been in the same class as him. Her skin had an unnatural pallor and her hair was such a saturated pink that it was like she'd never seen the sun a single day of her life. In her hands were a textbook and a packet of worksheets, and Kiba had one hand fisted in his hair as he puzzled over a set of problems in his lap.

"So if I carry the three... and move the decimal... I'll get forty-six percent?" he asked. The girl reached over and checked though his work.

"Yes," she said. "But if you can do this, why're you failing all your tests?"

"Ugh, you think I'm just gonna sit there and work through it? It takes so freakin' long!"

"Yes."

"Sakura!"

"You're not going to be in next year's class if you keep failing."

"But—"

"If I can punch Ami in the face I can do it to you too," she threatened. Kiba's nose wrinkled as he pouted and stuffed his attention back in his workbook. Tsume snerked.

Well, this was certainly different.

"KIBA!" The clan head vaulted over the side and landed in a crouch some inches away from her son. He toppled back at the sheer force of her landing and threw all his supplies in the air. Kuromaru appeared next to the girl—Sakura—but only managed to surprise her enough for her to jolt and send her textbook sliding off her lap. "What's this about ditching school, you ratty little punk?!"

"Mom?! What're you doing here?!"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?!" Tsume barked. She stood to full height and towered imperiously over him. "I just got told you've been ditchin' for a full week—"

"It's only 'cause finals are soon!" he interrupted. His mother's glare intensified and Kuromaru's face contorted into disapproval.

"Finals?! Kiba, I'm gonna _punt_ —"

"No, no, no—wait—I—" the boy stammered. Sakura stood and dusted the back of her pants before cautiously approaching the fuming matriarch. She sidled up to Kiba to where their shoulders almost touched, though she was some space ahead of him.

"Kiba doesn't learn well in a classroom environment, Inuzuka-san," she started. Tsume cocked a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "He has terrible test scores and doesn't like listening. And he can't focus. And sometimes he falls asleep."

"Gee, thanks," he muttered.

Sakura continued. "But he does know what's being taught and he's not as stupid as others think he is. We ditch a lot, but I know our grades aren't suffering because I won't let him fall behind. We're going to graduate together."

She didn't think what she said was so outlandish. It was only logical to assume they'd become genin the same year if she helped with keeping his grades up. They were friends, right? It only seemed natural to do that much for him.

Kiba stared at her with wide eyes. Akamaru's ears perked up. Kuromaru's good eye observed her carefully. Tsume narrowed her gaze and peered down at her.

"Kid. Your name."

"Sakura," the girl introduced. "I sit in front of Kiba in class."

Sakura had never met a clan leader before and she didn't think there were too much of them considered one of the Top 50 Shinobi across the nations. There were a couple from Konoha: Hyuuga Hiashi and Uchiha Fugaku, though the latter had been killed a month or so ago. She wondered who took his place. Then again, she hadn't been able to get her hands on an updated Bingo Book since before her arrival to Konoha.

Tsume stared her down before a sharp grin erupted on her face. "No surname?"

"No, ma'am."

" _Ma'am_?" she repeated incredulously, her eyes rounding. "I haven't been called ma'am ever since word got around that I scared off my sorry ass ex-husband a couple years back." She let out a loud bark of laughter. "Oh, I like you. You've got that respect lots of other brats don't have. My brat included."

Kiba pouted, and she went on. "So you've been tutoring this little punk?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And you're the reason why his grades haven't completely gone down the toilet?"

Sakura nodded again. "Yes, ma'am."

Tsume smirked and reached over to tousle her hair until it vaguely resembled a beaver dam, leaving her slightly disoriented at the force of the 'affection'. "You're alright, kid." She then grinned at her son. "Kiba! Bring her over next time! I think your sister would like her too!"

::

"Sakura's replacement?" Konan repeated. She picked up a thin folder from atop Pein's desk. Flipping through it, she noticed the scarce amount of information that accompanied the picture on the first page. "I don't deny his eligibility, but you didn't need Sakura until a few years down the line."

"Because she was young and inexperienced. This candidate, on the other hand, exceeds the criteria required of him," said Pein. "Sasori, Kakuzu, and Orochimaru have been sent for his recruitment. He will be here in two weeks time for his following commencement."

"Understood. I will begin preparations immediately," she replied. She laid the folders back on the desk before bowing and exiting the office, her thoughts slowly swimming in her head. The new candidate would most likely become Kisame's new partner and carry out orders like any typical member of the organization. The candidate certainly wasn't born to be groomed for this like Sakura had, but it was more than enough.

Konan slowed to a stop in the hallway and allowed herself a glance out the expanse of polished windows. "Rest in peace," she murmured, looking away. "At the very least, you won't have to grow up in a world that will see a red dawn."

 **July**

Sakura turned the book over in her hands, scrutinizing the cheap binding and soft cover texture. The quality of bingo books were universal, it seemed, as efforts were never taken to care of something that was updated every six months. It looked a little different from her father's copies, though. While Ame's books were navy and grimy, Konoha's were phthalo green and glossed to the point of looking like more effort was put into its presentation.

Designs aside, she'd been able to snag one off a teacher's desk after Iruka called her up to the faculty offices to talk about her absences and commend her on her grades. They hadn't noticed a thing—at least at the time—and she acquired what she'd been looking for over the course of the last year.

Sakura immediately turned to the back where the Top 50 Shinobi were compiled for all high ranking hunters could study and see. It hadn't changed for the most part, with the exception of small things like a hike in worth or an addition to the list of crimes they committed.

She already memorized _everything_.

Save for the new entry on the last page.

 _ **Name:**_

 _Uchiha Itachi_

 _ **Affiliation:**_

 _Unknown_

 _ **Specialty:**_

 _Genjutsu_

 _Assassination_

 _Intelligence_

 _ **Crime(s):**_

 _Assailant of the "Uchiha Massacre"_

 _Defection from Konoha_

 _Treason_

 _ **Worth:**_

 _Yet to be Determined_

Her attention strayed from the photo of a barely teenage shinobi to his specialties and the fact he had yet to declare a loyalty. Young, promising, perhaps somewhat impressionable.

Sakura pulled out a pen from her school bag and made a small note next to the affiliation.

 _Prospective Akatsuki Member_

::

Saki... would've yelled at him. Screamed. Beat his shoulder until she cried and demanded to know how the hell he could let this happen to their baby. Kisame wouldn't have known what to say to her, but this was the only thing he could've done.

His wife was gone.

He was a monster.

And he couldn't raise Sakura in a place like the Akatsuki.

So, he let her go.

Kisame stood out in the village, letting the rain cascade over his shoulders as he bent over Saki's grave. He pressed his lips against the cold stone and whispered with a heavy heart:

" _Konoha will take care of her now_."


	12. Team

Twelve year old Sakura was bored. A little _too_ bored for the occasion, maybe.

Today was finally the day of her year's Academy graduation. Nearly everyone had passed except for Uzumaki Naruto, but he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with a hitai-ate shining on his forehead when she walked into the classroom this morning. It made her unconsciously tighten her own around the top of her head. Her long pink hair had been twisted into a high bun—no flyaways, stray hairs, or out-of-place strands could be seen.

"It's now time to list off your new genin teams," Iruka announced. "Team One will consist of..."

She looked up at the tap on her shoulder and saw Kiba grinning down at her.

"You look excited," he whispered. Sakura nearly rolled her eyes.

"They could just have our new sensei come and take us instead of making this a whole thing."

"Maybe you're just boring."

"Maybe I'm being sensible."

"Team Three," continued Iruka. He cleared his throat and sent a warning glare in their general direction, "will consist of..."

Kiba and Sakura waited some moments before the former started murmuring from the corner of his mouth. "You'd think after all this time he'd finally separate us by putting us on opposite sides of the room."

"He did. Then he got tired of us throwing paper planes at each other." Sakura reached down to her kunai pouch to take quick inventory of her supplies. Kunai, shuriken, senbon, wire, and a small medical kit. Papa always said it was necessary to be prepared at all moments on any day. There was no use on overstocking on weapons if no one knew how to use them effectively.

"Team Seven!" their teacher called out. "Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Hyuuga Hinata!"

Both Kiba and Sakura shared a wince. What a team. Sasuke already had problems once the massacre happened and his brother deserted, Naruto hated Sasuke the most in the class, and Hinata had the _biggest_ crush on Naruto since the beginning of the Academy. But Sakura supposed it made sense. Sasuke was the last remaining Uchiha, Hinata was the heiress to her clan, and Naruto...

She cast him a sidelong glance and narrowed her eyes. There was nothing notable about Naruto which made it so odd that there was such high clearance on anything about him.

"Team Eight! Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Sakura!"

She high fived the hand dangling in front of her face before turning in her seat to gaze at one of the students in the top row. Shino was a quiet character in the class that never interacted with other students unless it was absolutely necessary. Part of his unsociable tendencies, she found, was that their classmates didn't take well to the insects he used to work his family's jutsu. She didn't mind them, though. She understood their use and acknowledged their part in his skills.

He caught her eye and sent a minuscule nod her way.

Sakura waved back.

::

"— _or_ you can shut the fuck up—"

"You know, I'm real fucking glad we don't meet up face to face like this all the time, un, 'cause your stupid _shit_ —"

"Jashin will smite you, you _fucki_ —"

Kisame tuned out the conversation with ease and resumed marking up the latest addition of the Bingo Book. Kakuzu had given him a list of names that were key for the six month cycle before the next edition came out, and he had to do some studying for when it came time to collect the bounties.

But ultimately, his mind ended up drifting off to his little pup and to the day he decided to let that Konoha group find her.

 _An abandoned warehouse caught his eye from the edge of his window view, prompting him to feel for some of his chakra-suppressing seals he kept in his pouch to help in avoiding detection._

 _Paranoia was his friend, and that friend was telling him that there were people here for him. He always listened because it never hurt to. And, if they were who he hoped they were, this was going to be an easier story than the one he made before he left Amegakure._

 _"Pup?" he called softly. She looked up from her meal._

 _"Yeah, Papa?"_

 _"Leave your things and come with me."_

 _He told her she would only hide for an hour or two, but when he was attacked by Konoha shinobi, his heart dropped knowing he would never get to tell her goodbye._

He blinked away the growing wetness in his eyes and looked up to the banter still raging in the room. Hidan was inducted into the organization a year ago. Deidara came not too long after that, and the mere thought of it made him grimace. He wouldn't have had a problem with Akatsuki's recruiting strategies if they stopped taking them in at such a damn young age. Deidara was taken in at fourteen and Itachi was taken in at _thirteen_.

Sakura was twelve years old this year. The thought of her being a full-fledged Akatsuki member now made him queasy. He could only hope that she was still in Konoha and would never find herself in an organization as soul constricting as this one.

"You appear rather tolerant of the noise in this room."

He glanced up at Itachi, who'd taken a seat in the chair beside him. Though seventeen years old and no longer considered a child, Kisame couldn't help but discourage the circumstance that lead his path in the direction of destruction.

"Heh, really? Can't take me for a patient guy like you?"

The Uchiha angled his head slightly and opened the briefing folder that was to be read before the meeting scheduled in an hour. "They're acting like children."

Kisame smiled humorlessly—so much so that it made Itachi pause for a portion of a millisecond before collecting himself so that none could take notice.

"There's nothing wrong with children, Itachi-san."

"You speak from experience?"

There was a loose shrug of a shoulder, like brushing off the notion as if it were nothing more than half-minded dust.

"Maybe I'm just a sentimental guy."

::

Yuuhi Kurenai wasn't in the Top Fifty Shinobi, but she had a decent price on her head. She was an A-rank sensor type who specialized in genjutsu that was said to rival that of Uchiha Itachi. Sakura doubted the claim not because she doubted the jounin's abilities, but through the sheer fact that Uchiha Itachi was in the Top Ten and attained such a high ranking at an incredibly young age. He was on a whole other level of genius.

"It's very nice to finally meet you three. My name is Yuuhi Kurenai and I'll be your teacher the duration of your genin team status," Kurenai introduced kindly. "I'm currently a Jounin, graduated the Academy at nine years old, and became chuunin at thirteen. I specialize in genjutsu and intelligence, and I'm looking forward to working with you all in our coming time. If you could all introduce yourselves as well..."

Kiba looked around the training area their new sensei had brought them to before taking himself up on the first answer. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba and this is my partner, Akamaru," he started. Akamaru barked from the front of his jacket. "I don't do too well in book stuff, but I was in the Top Ten physically!"

"I'm Sakura," Sakura said right after. "No surname. I stayed in the Top Fifteen all six years and would like to consider myself a well-rounded student."

Kurenai noted the pouty look Kiba gave her—like she hadn't spoken the whole truth—then looked to the last member of the team.

"... Aburame Shino," the last spoke up. "I was also in the Top Fifteen all six years and considered myself more aligned with intelligence gathering. My kikaichu make it possible for the latter."

Sakura perked up and leaned forward to peer around Kiba's form. "Your kikaichu are your insects, right? How are they used for reconnaissance?"

"Ah, you're interested?"

"They've always been naturally interesting to begin with. For me, anyway."

He mulled over her statement, wondering if she was truly genuine or not. No one had ever shown an inherent interest in his insects and normally shied away when they were brought up around others. But she didn't seem to find them gross, and neither did Kiba. He only appeared to not care that much at all—as expected from one of the problem students of the class.

Kurenai cleared her throat and moved the newly minted genins' attention back to her. "I know you all want to get to know each other better, but please listen to me for the next few minutes. It won't take too long at all." As they quieted down, she continued. "Today, I will fight you all one on one to assess your abilities and we'll come together tomorrow as a team to talk about what you all need to work on. Alright?"

"Yes," they chorused. She brightened at their mannerisms.

"Good. We'll head further into Training Ground Eight and begin."

Kiba and Sakura walked side by side with Shino trailing a bit behind the latter's free side.

"An 'all around student'?" Kiba mouthed. She shrugged, her eyes watching her sensei's back some distance away from them.

"That's what my grades say," she muttered. She turned to Shino and raised her voice to its normal levels. "Tomorrow, can you tell me about your kikaichu?"

He pushed up his glasses. "I don't see why not. I'll bring more of my other colonies. Why? Because I feel you'll be interested."

Kiba's brow pinched together before he sighed and let his chin drop into his chest. Great. Another weird one. And with his luck of this ridiculous 2:1 ratio of weirdness, he found it safe to say that the odds were clearly stacked against him and that if he was going to turn weird too, it'd be Sakura and Shino's fault. More Sakura's, though. He'd known her the longest.

::

At the training ground, Kiba volunteered to go first.

Kurenai had no qualms with the arrangement and prepared herself to spar. In his file, it was stated he was prone to make rash decisions. While she assumed he had all traits the Inuzuka were known for, he wasn't the best at planning and tended to flop once a battle turned to be one of wits and strategy.

When she called start, he and Akamaru lunged.

Granted, it wasn't the _smartest_ move, but it allowed Kurenai insight on three things. One, he really was just as fast as any Inuzuka before him. He attacked with the vigor of a beast, baring his fangs and showing no hesitation. That was good for an offensive shinobi, but his certain lack of no resistance in his methods made him more susceptible to being overturned on his tactics.

She blocked a sharpened swipe with her kunai and shot a leg out to knock him off his feet which he avoided—narrowly.

Two, his enhanced senses were developing into a fine tool. The Inuzuka were renowned trackers that used their noses and ears but mostly the former, as scent tracing was one of the more popular ways to track down a target. Kurenai knew this, but that particular skill was next to useless in situations like hand to hand combat.

She shunshinned behind him and landed a swift kick that sent him sprawling onto the grass in front of him. She smiled.

Three, while he was strong, he wasn't as... sharp as she expected.

"That's enough, Kiba," she stated, pleased with what she had to work with and taking a mental note of what she'd observed thus far. "You may sit down now." She turned to the sidelines. "Who wants to go next?"

Both Shino and Sakura were quiet for a moment before the former stood silently and gave a slight nod of his head. "I'll go. Why? No one else was volunteering."

Kiba plopped down next to his friend as Kurenai swept back to her position on one end of the field. She cast a cursory glance to her right as Shino readied himself for battle; Sakura hadn't moved an inch since she'd sat down to watch the first fight and was gazing over the grounds with eyes as sharp as polished kunai.

Strange.

"Alright, same rules apply. You give it your all until I call time," Kurenai announced. "Are you ready?"

She took him sliding into an offensive stance as a yes.

"Start!"

Shino's techniques were more encompassing in the sense that he could use his insects to charge his opponent from any direction at any moment. A buzzing, black cloud erupted from his sleeves and dove at her like it had a mind of its own.

Down. Left. Right. Back. Left.

She threw shuriken, but they didn't land. Punches didn't either and neither did kicks. Whenever she made an attempt at collision with his colony, they'd simply make an opening for themselves and avoided her assault all together.

Kurenai jumped back for a handful of seconds, her red eyes blazing with calculation, before she launched herself forward with a new strategy. Completely shooting herself through the thick mist of bugs, they opened to let her slip through before she charged and met Shino with a taijutsu sequence.

He was good, but he didn't last long because it was one thing to concentrate on a far more skilled person before him than commanding his colony to be his first offensive line. The second his back connected to the ground with a slight grunt, Kurenai raised her hand to end the match.

"Well done, Shino," she smiled. "But we'll need to brush up on your taijutsu once we start our training."

He nodded once before taking the hand offered to him and pulling himself back up to his feet.

Sakura suddenly stood up the moment Shino stepped past the trees that surrounded the clearing. Akamaru moved himself from his spot at her feet to allow her space and Kiba stopped talking, gazing up at her with a hint of curiosity that Kurenai was observant enough to notice.

"This gonna be like all your other tests?" he questioned. The girl rolled her shoulders and assumed her spot in front of her teacher.

"Don't know what you mean. I always do my best."

He snorted, earning confused looks from the other two occupying the grounds. "Hope you don't fail."

"Never."

::

Sakura, according to her file, was an all around student just like she introduced herself as earlier. She had her collections of A's, B's, and C's throughout her six years of study that earned her a steady face among her peers at graduation. In fact, there was nothing really remarkable about her except the eccentric color of her hair and her truly ghastly attendance record. She was a plain student with no true strengths, weaknesses, or call to anything that could place her in a specific shinobi division.

But her being plain was the strangest thing about her. When Kurenai read through all the notes the Academy teachers wrote about her, all that was ever listed was the slight behavior problem of not showing up to class. She never answered questions, caused disruptions, or fought with other students without being provoked in the first place, but other than that, it was all average. Intelligence, strength, tactics, accuracy— _simply average_.

Though if she was average, she would've reacted negatively to the Aburame's collection of insects or would've had a touch more emotion when introducing herself. If she was just _average_ , then she wouldn't have spent a near hour motionless while observing her teammates fight with the precision rarely found in a recent graduate.

Something wasn't adding up and Kurenai was determined to find out exactly why that was.

"Again, same rules. Do you need me to go over them?"

"No, sensei," Sakura replied. "I understand what's expected of me."

Kurenai nodded slightly. _'Good. But_ I _don't know what to expect from_ you _.'_

Her fingers curled into a seal as she called start.

Immediately, she cast a genjutsu over her student and charged forward. The illusion was C-rank at best, meant to keep the opponent in a daze to allow the attacker to get a good hit in. But before she could lay a punch on the girl, Sakura's head jerked in the telltale sign of breaking the genjutsu's grip and she crossed her arms in front of her face to block. Not a second after that, she grabbed Kurenai's wrist and swung a heel kick so dangerously close to the woman's face that it would've connected if the other's skill was any lesser than it was now.

Green eyes flashed in a mere moment of panic before they assumed their typical blankness as Sakura quickly dropped the wrist and created a wide berth between her and her teacher.

Stunned, Kurenai could only stare.

::

 _What the hell was that?!_

Shino straightened as he witnessed the scene in the clearing. When did Sakura get that fast? That strong? Or any level so advanced that she was able to break through a genjutsu quick enough to catch Kurenai off guard like that and nearly land a hit? Not even that—if Sakura was able to perform that level of competency, she should've been at the top of the class in at least the physical department. There was no reason for her to be wallowing in the middle of class rankings!

He glanced to the side to see if Kiba had a similar reaction to him, but it seemed he only looked somewhat thoughtful as he watched on.

Shino reeled in the several questions bubbling under his skin and refocused on the battle.

::

"You've assessed two of my battles," Kurenai began slowly. She poised a kunai in her hand and searched for an opening. "What can you say about my fighting style?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes, inwardly berating herself at how she could let an advanced reaction show at her first training session. If she played dumb now, Kurenai would only get even more suspicious and prod further. At this point, it would only hurt more if she didn't allow some of her intelligence to show. "You don't use ninjutsu too much. Strength and stamina are your weak points. You favor speed and agility because it conserves your chakra and being a heavyhitter doesn't suit you. Your body isn't built for that sort."

"Correct. Accurately evaluating the opponent is a key skill to have. Are you good in academics?"

Sakura shrugged loosely, yet there was a tension in her eyes that grew more taut with each passing second. "I'm average."

She blocked more of Kurenai's attacks, weapons and limbs alike, until her breathing grew labored and she burned closer and closer to the end of her rope. Her teacher must have sensed it too, because she stopped suddenly and let her hands fall through a series of signs.

With the last of her energy, Sakura grit her teeth and curled her fingers into the release symbol. "KAI!"

The illusionary tree climbing up behind her abruptly stilled and faded, and Sakura slid down onto one knee as she tried to catch her breath. With her head bowed down to shield her face, Kurenai was blocked from reading the emotions that truly piqued her curiosity. She refrained from pushing, though, and let a content smile cross her face.

"Good job, Sakura," she commended. Sakura pushed herself to her feet and avoided eye contact, nodding once. "Everyone to me. I'd like to discuss tomorrow's schedule with you all."

Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Sakura gathered around her. They all were caked in a fair amount of sweat and grime, and Kurenai was surprised to note that none of them were complaining. They all stayed relatively quiet—even Kiba with his boisterous family background.

"Today I've gathered first hand information on your skills and noted some of the particular strengths each of you have," she started. "It turns out this team is rather balanced in terms of the three basic types of jutsu. Kiba's strength it taijutsu, Shino's is ninjutsu, and Sakura's is genjutsu. But before we can delve into each of your strong suits, we need to get down to the basics which includes strength, stamina, and dexterity. Think of the next few weeks as an advanced physical education class, because tomorrow at promptly eight in the morning, we'll meet in this exact spot and I'll tell you just how many laps around the grounds you'll be running. Yes?"

"Yes," the three chorused lowly. Kiba looked the most put-out about the promise of a monotonous training schedule and Shino appeared as impassive as he always was behind his high hood and glasses, but Sakura only raised her hand with a faint questioning expression. Kurenai gestured her way.

"What is it, Sakura?"

"Is it alright if I'm late? I'll be thirty minutes at most, and I promise not to take long."

Kurenai considered her for a moment. "What's the reason?"

"I'm moving out of the orphanage tomorrow," she said. Shino blinked rapidly behind his dark lenses. He hadn't known she was an orphan. "Since genin are seen as adults in the eyes of the law, I'm able to move into my own apartment and I no longer have to impose on the matron. The landlord won't give me the key until 7:45 and there's still some things she needs me to sign."

Kurenai was filled with momentary sympathy. Ah, yes. Now she remembered. This was _that_ Sakura, found five years ago as Hoshigaki Kisame's hostage with no other family than the ones Hoshigaki presumably killed. She'd been the one to check the file for inconsistencies before approving it and filing it away in the archives. "That's fine, but each minute you're late is another lap you'll have to run."

"Yes, ma'am."

As the three of them were dismissed and went their separate ways, Kurenai couldn't help but trail her gaze after young Sakura, straight-backed and purposefully making her feet brush against the grass.

::

Sakura sighed as she set a box of her belongings on top of the rickety wooden table in her kitchenette. She tried not to think too much about yesterday and how royally she screwed up. What would her Papa say if he saw how badly she failed? Her teacher caught her so off guard that she accidentally acted on reflex, igniting suspicion. Kiba already knew of her fluke—would she have to let both Shino and Kurenai on it too?

She sighed again. She'd think about it later. For now, she had to make it to the first official day of training.

As she opened the front door to take her leave, the door to her right opened as well to reveal a horrible assault of blonde and orange.

She blinked.

"Uzumaki... Naruto?"


	13. A New Outlook

Naruto stumbled as he skittered backwards, his shoulder meeting his front door with a solid thump with his mouth sputtering in surprise. "Ha—you—what—um—uh—heeeeey...?"

Sakura cocked an eyebrow, looking much like her father when he found something interesting. "Good morning to you too, Uzumaki." She shut the door behind her, locked it with her key, and started down the metal staircase. Naruto blinked a few times before physically shaking himself out of his stupor and quickly made his own way down the steps after fumbling with his own lock.

"H-Hold up!" he called. She didn't slow down, but cast an inquiring look over her shoulder. "You're Sakura, right? From the Academy? In my class? For the last, like, five years?"

"Yes."

"Oh." They walked in silence for a little while before he decided to speak up again. "SO you moved in next door, huh? Does 'at mean you don't got any parents neither?"

"Don't _have_ any parents _either_ ," she corrected inattentively. "And yes, I don't. Any more questions for me, Uzumaki?"

Naruto hummed as his face scrunched up in thought. He'd never really talked this much with Sakura before. In fact, he never really talked to her at all during the years they'd been taught. Her and the dude with the dog were gone at least half the time, and when they were in class, they paid as much attention as he did. Which was nada. So he peered up at her curiously, miffed that she was at least a few inches taller than him. "A couple a' years ago in detention—didja really punch Ami in the nose?"

Sakura snorted and allowed a small grin. "The reason why she was gone for a month was because she didn't want anyone to see her _'broken and bruised face ruining the gods' version of perfection!'_." Her imitation made her raise her voice to a nasally octave and threw Naruto in for such a loop that he barked out an incredulous laugh before slapping his hands over his mouth and reduced himself to poorly concealed amusement. Her lips quirked up a tad higher at that until they stopped at a fork in a road that each led to a different set of training grounds. "We split here. You're part of Team Seven, right?"

"Yup! And you're... uh..."

"Eight," she finished with faint traces of amusement. Turning left towards her path, she threw up her hand in a casual wave. "See you around, Uzumaki."

He stared after her blankly with a strange expression on his face. But just as quickly as it came, it left, and he cheerfully waved at her back. "Dattebayo! Bye, Sakura!" Naruto ran down his own path, past the trees and the shimmering streams of light that filtered through the leaves.

::

"There's something about you, hm. I just can't put my finger on it."

It was the customary quiet at Akatsuki's cavern hidden in Wind Country. With the meeting over and nothing much more to stick around for, only two pairs lingered behind. Deidara, one of the four remaining, idly tossed a ball of clay from hand to hand.

Kisame glanced up from the kunai he was sharpening. "There's lots of shit about me, kid. What's got you so pegged?"

"I'm not a kid, un."

"Coulda fooled me," he grinned. His pointed teeth glimmered in the low light. "So. What's this something?"

Deidara frowned and pointed. "That. That exactly, un."

"Not followin', kid."

"It's just—ugh, how the hell are you so friendly, hm?" he groaned. Ever since Deidara was 'recruited', he resolved himself to be in the company of some of the morally inept people the shinobi community had to offer. On top of being strong, ruthless, S-class criminals, there was no way they could be remotely pleasant without a twist; Sasori had a respectable craft but was a nightmare, Itachi was a fucking dick, Hidan was an _unstable_ fucking dick, Kakuzu was downright mental, and Kisame—

Well, he was twirling his kunai between his fingers, looking at him like he really was a little kid asking a curious question. "You want me to act like I'll gut you any second? 'Cause I can if you want."

"You know that's not what I meant, hm," Deidara said. He crossed his arms. Kisame laughed and stood, his huge frame a tower as he picked up Samehada and slung it across his back.

"The universe won't do shit for you if you spend it all being a bitter old man. Be happy when you can—people like us don't got all the time in the world for it."

There was something in his eyes then. It was sad and lonely, undulating and swirling before it returned to the beady blackness of a jaded shinobi. He saluted Deidara lazily before walking down one of the carved hallways of the cavern, probably looking for that asshole partner of his.

"... the hell are you on about, un?"

::

If Team Eight was going to succeed, then everything had to be bared out in the open with no subtleties to hide behind. So, as Sakura appeared on the training field at 8:16 in the morning while her two other teammates ran their assigned fifty laps around the training grounds, Kurenai gestured her forward and spoke in a low tone the other two tried to strain to hear. "I do want an explanation as to why you've decided to cover your true abilities, Sakura."

The girl sighed in resignation, seeming to have fully expected the statement. "Yes, ma'am. Will I answer in front of my whole team as well?"

"... No. You don't need to," Kurenai decided. "But I'd like to take some of your time after practice, if that's alright."

Sakura bobbed her head. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now you have sixty-six laps to make up. I expect them to be finished within two hours."

She nodded again, and when she briefly met her teacher's eyes, Kurenai couldn't help but think of how she'd been able to make them look so _cold_.

Kiba sidled up to his friend once she entered the sides of the clearing to run her rounds and bared his teeth in a cheeky grin. "Got caught?"

"Yes," Sakura grunted unhappily. His grin grew wider, but she elbowed him in the ribs for his trouble and picked up her pace, leaving him sputtering and yelling behind her.

::

Kurenai found herself at her dinner table by seven in the evening with a steaming cup of tea at her elbow and her students' files laid out in the open. Sakura sat across from her, her hands clasped around a cup of black coffee as her eyes quickly scanned the documents presented.

"So, what exactly is the reasoning behind this cover up of your true potential?" the elder inquired curiously. She wasn't necessarily upset about the turn of events but was interested at the fact that she'd never seen a case like this before.

Sakura responded without looking up. "Misdirection."

"Explain."

"When people look through Academy student's files to assign them to teams or scrutinize their abilities, they base them off superficial judgments without looking deeper than the surface. Why would they dig? We're considered barely genin," she began. She took a sip of her coffee. "And with being barely genin, we're still widely regarded as children, save for the occasional prodigy. As children, we're expected to do the best we can in those six years because we want to be the fastest, the strongest, the smartest, the _best_. We're expected to do the best so we're assigned the correct teacher and teammates to hone in the skill set that we're expected to uptake. But as children, we're not expected to think about fundamentals, so no one really cares that they're being watched, and because I'm not _expected_ to understand this much of the system, I can very well work against it as much as I've been allowed."

Kurenai suddenly felt very much out of her element. Of course she was a shinobi and was practically the definition of deception, but this...

Sakura set her mug down and crossed her arms. "No one pays attention to those who aren't in the top ten or the last ten. The top ten are written off as those who'll most likely pass chuunin rank, and the last ten are given remedial courses to help their development. I kept myself in the middle because I know that's where no one would find me, and they haven't for all the years I've been at the Academy. Unfortunately, though, you noticed and there was no way I was going to be able to back out of it." Her lips turned down in mild disappointment. "But I suppose it was about time. With three on one training and full access to my information, I would've been found out sooner or later."

She watched as her teacher quickly picked up the leftmost folder and scanned through it like she'd probably done a hundred times before. Average, average, average, average—

"So everything in here is a _lie_?!"

"Things like my times, accuracy, and IQ? Yes. In short, your Archives know nothing tangible about me."

Kurenai sat back in her chair, the jarring truth hammering at her skull. The situation, for lack of a better term, was unbelievable. There were no falsities to be found in her logic. Shinobi were proud and weren't afraid to show it—they never would've thought a young child would use that vice against them. But yet, a clearer question still stood unanswered.

"Why don't you want to be recognized for the things you can do?"

Sakura tapped her fingers against her bicep for a few moments, her mouth pressed into a thin line and her answer rolling lightly at the tip of her tongue. "Knowledge is a very dangerous thing, sensei. I know I'm here to fulfill my duty under the Hokage, but if I'm able to do so without being kept in a spotlight, then that's where the true shinobi lies, isn't it?"

 _Then that's where the true shinobi lies, isn't it?_

"That's right..." Kurenai murmured, mostly to herself. She tapped her chin with her finger. On the barest level, shinobi were indeed creatures that lurked in the shadows who wore lies like armor and hid their skill in the farthest depths of their heart. They were meant to be the unknown; the questionable, and they were doing no favors for themselves by showcasing their skills like the power pageant that was the last test of the chuunin exams. "... And if I brought this up to Hokage-sama? What then?"

"It's in your full jurisdiction to do what you like, sensei. It's my fault for being so careless anyways," shrugged Sakura. She gave a sharp, shark-like grin. "But no matter how many times you decide to re-test me, I'll continue to be 'average'. Nothing in that file will change if I have anything to say about it."

While at this point there was nothing else that could be said about her train of thought and the outstanding reasons behind it, there was still something Kurenai didn't quite understand. All of this... intricacy and desire to be the epitome of a shadow was work no one else wanted to uptake, yet a twelve year old orphan was carrying the duty on her shoulders like it was the weight of the world.

She straightened and regarded her new student with one last question. "What's your endgame? As in, what could possibly benefit _you_ by doing all of _this_?"

Sakura's eyes dimmed then and the smile slipped off her face in a show of mute blankness. It was then she spoke a single line so engraved in her bones that she would never forget it, one that Kurenai wouldn't find the importance of until much, much further down the line.

"I will be an exemplary shinobi, or I will be nothing at all."

::

It was nine in the evening when Sakura walked down the thinning streets to her apartment. With her hands stuffed in the pockets of her black pants, she grimaced silently at the turn of events that came with the first official day of her genin training. She was outed, spoke the truth to Kurenai, and she was more than likely going to be exposed to the Hokage regardless of her wishes.

Before she came to Konoha, the Akatsuki wanted to train her with the sole purpose of exploiting her skills for the better of the organization. But Papa never liked that. He never told her specifically, but she learned to pick up on his tells on how much he didn't want her to be part of the organization. He always told her she was too good for something like that and she'd be free one day, he just didn't know how yet. And every time she pushed and asked why she couldn't stay, why she couldn't work under Leader, why she couldn't be just like _him_ , it always boiled down to the same thing.

 _"Because I'm not a good man."_

She scowled and tucked her chin further into her chest as she weaved down the road to her place.

What was she going to do now?

::

Hiruzen observed the genin sensei standing in a line before him, arranged according to their team numbers. After the first official day of training, he made sure to go through each jounin to ensure there were no abnormalities or concerns with their young charges.

"—uto still retains a vigorous rivalry with Sasuke and Hinata tries to mediate as much as she can while within Naruto's proximity, but I suspect things will mellow with time. They passed the bell test. Barely, but they managed," Kakashi smiled. "Other than that, there are no problems, sir."

The Sandaime nodded once before moving his gaze to the next shinobi in line. "Yuuhi Kurenai leading Team Eight consisting of Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Sakura. Are there any anomalies?"

There was quiet for a brief moment. Kurenai met her Hokage's kind eyes with determination blaring in her own and, simply, spoke the truth.

"There's nothing to report, sir. No problems have arisen."

Hiruzen smiled and dipped his head. "Very well. Now..."

As he turned to address the person to Kurenai's left, he missed the way she let her gaze drop guiltily to the floor.


	14. The Beginning

She lied to the Hokage.

She _lied_ to the _Hokage_.

Kurenai exhaled heavily and dropped her head into her hands. She'd only just become a jounin and this was the first thing she decided to do—lie. _To the Hokage_.

Falling back on her bed, she let her arms fall away as she gazed up at the ceiling. There wasn't much she could do about it now. She made her decision, gambled her luck on the strange kid who was beating the system, and was about to push her new team into heights of true shinobi. While it all had a chance of being a lapse in judgment and she might have very well sentenced herself to a life full of dodging the council for the sake of three twelve year olds, there were some key decisions she still had to make.

Like what type of team she would be cultivating, for one.

Kurenai picked a few she crossed out immediately: Analysis, Cipher/Cryptology, Sensor, Logistical Support, and Sealing. Analysis and Cipher/Cryptology teams were village-based and spent most of their time in book filled rooms puzzling out problem sheets. She might not know what her team would become when they grew into their full capabilities, but she doubted they would appreciate an off-the-field career—meaning that being in the Research Division was also scratched through.

They also couldn't be sensors because they hadn't the innate skill, and although they could learn, their technique wouldn't be as potent as someone who had the natural ability. Logistical Support fell as another category of Research, so that was out of the window as well. Then there was Sealing, which wasn't technically a branch of Research, but it held much of the same properties and required an intensive study of the nature of chakra and seal creation methods that she wasn't sure the whole team would be willing to grasp.

A Honey Pot team was out of the equation. There were extremely few occasions where a genin team rose to become one and, she could state with clarity, that her team was not one of those instances. The next type that came into deliberation was a Medical team. Maybe one of them could take up healing for the sheer benefit of having such a means to rely on, but she still wasn't sure if they could even summon healing chakra and there was a near zero chance of all three being able to do so, so that struck out Medical.

Kurenai tapped her finger against her chin. They wouldn't be a Torture/Interrogation team either since their abilities were ill-suited for such a job, and that most likely meant they wouldn't flourish nicely under the general umbrella of the Intelligence Division, like with Strategy and Tactics. Her team also wouldn't do too well in types of Defense teams considering their prowess leaned towards the offense side, so that was ruled out along with the Barrier and Escort teams. And even if she did say that they leaned towards offense, they weren't inclined to _become_ a full Offensive team due to the nature of Shino's insects, Sakura's disposition towards genjutsu, and Kiba's inherent utilization of hit-and-run tactics.

They could be a part of the Local Investigation teams. Ever since the demise of the Uchiha, the Military Police Force had disappeared completely, leaving their duties shelved on top of the village to dish out, but there were already quite a few squads created in a place of what was lost and Kurenai didn't want her students' potential used on petty crimes like theft and vandalism.

That left five main teams: Infiltration/Reconnaissance, Rescue/Capture, Tracking, Sabotage, or Surprise Attack/Diversion. She supposed she could remove Surprise Attack/Diversion and Sabotage from the list as pranksters (or those with a rather dubious reputation or mischievous streak) from the Academy normally took up the help with their ingenious ideas and seemingly endless ways of avoiding apprehension. The closest one to a prankster was Kiba, but the only thing he'd gotten in trouble for were dismal grades and absences—not to say the three of them couldn't ban together and do it, but it didn't look like their style.

Or, was it? Kurenai had only known them for the better of two days thus far and she could only make assumptions on a shaky foundation at best. But she managed to narrow her list down to three team types: Infiltration/Reconnaissance, Rescue/Capture, and Tracking.

She pulled herself up from her bed and left her room to ready herself for the day.

For now, all she had to do was observe.

::

When Sakura stepped onto the training field to meet with Kurenai before all her other teammates did, she expected a lot of things to be said.

"I didn't inform Hokage-sama."

But _that_ was not one of them.

"You didn't inform Hokage-sama," she repeated in surprise. "Why? I mean, not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but it was clear that this was something that needed the attention of a higher authority."

Kurenai pursed her lips. "It is. And I'm the highest authority that's going to know about it."

Sakura tried to mute her surprise as best she could during the time she waited for the rest of the team to show up. Shino appeared shortly after with his hands tucked in the pockets of his green jacket, and then came Kiba with a wide yawn and Akamaru trailing happily at his side.

Training that day was as monotonous as the day before, unsurprisingly. Kurenai did say that the next few weeks would be a glorified physical education class before they started molding chakra or working on their elemental natures. For the next seven hours, she directed the three of them through a series of running, push ups, and all sorts of different work outs and obstacle courses that had them sprawled out across the training grounds while unsuccessfully trying to catch their breath in their sweat-soaked clothes.

"Are the other team training sessions as... intense... as ours?" Shino questioned through gulps of air. His brown hair had clumps of dirt and grass matted throughout, and it was only recently he realized why his teacher insisted they bring a towel and a change of clothes with them along with their lunch and supplies. "Why I'm asking? I'm not complaining, but merely curious."

Kurenai scrutinized him for a brief moment before smiling. "No, I don't believe the other teams are being made to train as hard as you all are. If I had to pick a team that's pushed to the extremes like yourselves, it'd be Maito Gai's."

Kiba's brows furrowed in visible confusion as Sakura wiped her forehead with one of her black arm warmers. "Maito Gai, the taijutsu specialist who likes to run on about youth. We've come across him once or twice."

"We have?" asked Kiba. He turned his head from his spot on the grass to look at her.

"You've said enough about him to know him."

He sputtered. "Oh shi—the crazy guy that walks around on his hands with his mini-me? That's Maito Gai?!"

"He may be, er, _eccentric_ at times, but he's a very good sensei. He wouldn't allow his students to take part in the Chuunin Exams last year so they'd train up even harder for this year. You might come across them," Kurenai said. She glanced to the side in thought. But even if her training sessions shone with Gai's vigor, she wasn't going to wait as long as he was.

She shook her head and refocused her attention. "Good work today, Shino, Kiba, Sakura. We'll pick it up again tomorrow and with this pace, we'll have our first mission by the end of next week."

"Yes, sensei," they chorused. She beamed at them and said her goodbyes before heading off, leaving her students to take their break before going off on their own. It was only when she was completely out of earshot did Shino decide to speak up.

"Kurenai-sensei said 'you might come across them' like we'd have a chance of meeting Maito-san's team," he noted. He stood and brushed some dirt from the top of his head, his aching muscles whining in protest.

Sakura was quick to pick up on his implication. "It's too early to consider us for the Chuunin Exams. She's only had us for three days and she still has five months to decide."

"Five months to decide, yes, but according to the general surveillance of current Konoha genin teams, rookies rarely get nominated and rarely train this hard in the beginning stages. Perhaps she wanted to push us to cultivate our skills more thoroughly if we compete. No one else from our graduating class has started such a grueling regime."

She quirked an eyebrow. "And you know this, how?"

A few black bugs trickled out of his collar in his teammates' plain view. "When I mentioned general surveillance, I meant reference to myself."

Because it was stupid to start their careers blind even though they were only genin. When Shino was still an Academy student, he never willingly answered questions or spoke to his classmates. He'd sit at his desk and complete his work without issue, but it wasn't as if he was about to sit there and allow himself to grow bored. He sat, he worked, he _observed_.

Sometimes he let his insects loose through the school to sit through upper year lectures and had them relay important points he had to study on at a later date. Or he had them sit near other students to eavesdrop on conversations and cherrypicked what others called "juicy" information for short-lived amusement because he honestly couldn't care less. Even then, sometimes he wouldn't send out his insects—he would just sit back in his chair during study hour and listened.

It was amazing how some people said things they shouldn't in a public environment.

Shino blinked as Sakura's lips pulled up into an almost feral grin and Kiba dropped his head in his hands, muttering about there being 'another one'.

"Spying on other Konoha shinobi? You can get in a lot of trouble for it, and I thought you would trust them," Sakura mused. He leveled her with a considering gaze.

"Trust is a strong word," he said. "After witnessing your hidden proficiency first hand a few days ago, I found an even greater reason not to take things at face value. Besides, I wouldn't allow myself to get in trouble. Only an idiot would get caught." Kiba's jaw dropped. "Speaking of which, would you be so inclined to explain what exactly you're capable of?"

Kiba looked back and forth between the two.

If it were possible, her grin stretched wider. "I'll trade you for an account of your spying."

Shino wanted to refute her on the use the word _spying_ because it _wasn't_ and he was simply being _resourceful_ but—

He nodded once. "Deal."

Kiba was simply bewildered. "You know, I feel like I just watched two devils come to an understanding and I don't know how to feel about it."

"Right," Sakura snorted before looking at them both. "Do you think your parents would mind if you guys had dinner at my place tonight?"

"My father has clan business to attend to and won't be back until late, so I will be available," Shino replied. Kiba finally popped up to his feet and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"And you know my mom won't mind if I'm with you," he grinned. "But Akamaru and I can use your shower, right? No way I'm sitting in a puddle of my own sweat the rest of the day. The smell's rank as hell."

"Sure. You too, Shino. But we're stopping at the store first."

The four of them walked off the field in idle chatter, Akamaru cheerfully barking on occasion, unaware of the new sense of camaraderie that was beginning to blossom beneath their feet.

That, and the pair of hidden eyes that watched them go.

::

A light in the kitchen flickered above his head and Kisame quickly stashed a mental note to go into town to buy another bulb. In front of him, the stove's blue fire swayed beneath the slowly heating pot as its watcher stewed in his own dour aura.

Recently, he and his partner received their tailed beast assignment: Uzumaki Naruto, host of the Kyuubi: a fiery orange fox entity with nine tails. It was supposedly the strongest of the beasts and the hardest one to obtain, but that wasn't even remotely close to what had been bothering him since stepping out of Leader's office.

Uzumaki Naruto was twelve years old.

And the mere thought made him sick to his stomach.

Couldn't they just wait until he was a little older until they started his pursuit? There was nothing wrong with waiting for him to live—to _grow up_. Every child deserved at least that much, especially one who'd been marked and targeted ever since he was a baby. Kisame didn't even agree with the reason for collecting the tailed beasts in the first place but he stayed and stuck with it because he had no damn choice, but with this...

... couldn't he even have a say in this? Couldn't he, the bloodthirsty Monster of the Mist, even make a choice of who he wanted to kill?

The light flickered again.

"Kisame-san."

He raised his head and acknowledged the new presence in the kitchen. "Itachi-san. Need something?"

"I wanted to review our new assignment, if that's feasible," Itachi said. He eyed the open file on the table before moving to the pronounced frown on his partner's face. "Have you found something unsatisfactory?"

Kisame's frown deepened as he regarded the younger man. "I don't have any business killin' kids." Itachi found himself staring in surprise. "We're taking him back here the easy way. No blood, no broken bones, no nothin'."

"... We're still in the observational stages and are most likely to make contact after the next Chuunin Exams. It's still a ways away."

"Still—I'm stickin' by this 'till the day I keel over. I. Don't. Kill. Kids. Got it?"

Flickering.

Itachi tilted his head in acquiesce. "Of course."

Kisame relaxed a bit and turned back to the stove. Behind him, Itachi blankly stared at the back of his head with a million thoughts brushing past his eyes until they ultimately settled on his beloved baby brother.

He wished he could say he wouldn't kill kids either, but Sasuke wasn't the only child in the compound that night. There were at least twenty others all bright and kind and with a life that they thought they could look forward to. But because of him, they'd never get that, and the only he could do for them was make their end quick and painless.

Itachi dropped his gaze to the file on the table, allowing the surge of respect at the fact that Kisame was a far better man than he'd ever be.

And above him, the light flickered.

::

Kiba was, once again, flabbergasted.

When Sakura said they'd have to make a trip to the store before going to her apartment, he had no qualms against it. Their first team dinner was an impromptu decision, she probably wasn't expecting company that night, and they agreed it would be fair to split the cost between the three of them. He also expected them to be in and out pretty quick since his mom and sister shopped by chucking whatever they vaguely needed in a cart.

But of course Sakura wasn't doing that. She looked at every label—every price—and determined the route of best interest at the speed of a goddamn calculator.

He whistled. "Holy shit. No wonder you're so good at math if you're doing this all the time. How do you even know the inflation and deflation of prices from three weeks ago?!"

"I read."

"Read _what_? The old lady section in the newspaper?"

Sakura broke her gaze from studying the produce section to reach into her bag and pulled out a decent bundle of paper clippings bound together with a rubber band. "Where else am I going to find these coupons?"

A small, amused sound echoed from the back of Shino's throat, but he otherwise spoke nothing else. She _did_ just finish walking them through the basic machinations of spending, sales, and deals, so he would've been more stunned if she hadn't brought out a stack of coupons as tall as a deck of cards.

"Damn," muttered Kiba. "This is exactly like the time you broke into the teacher's desk and stole my grades just to prove a point."

"You broke into the teacher's desk?" Shino questioned, incredulity underlying his bland tone.

"When I first came to the school. Picked the lock," she replied as she waved it off and turned back to the produce. "Now, do you guys want bitter melon, string beans, or cabbage as our dinner's main vegetable? These are the only three whose prices moved in a reasonable three cent margin compared to last month."

With their consensus on bitter melon and eventually pork as their meat, they managed to quickly pick out the necessary ingredients for bitter melon salad, baked pork cutlet, and tofu and mushroom soup.

"Knowing your way around the market is..." Shino trailed off thoughtfully as they stepped in the cashier line. Sakura cocked a brow.

"A weird skill?" she supplied.

"More... a practical skill, I should say. Practical like the phasmatodea insect family camouflaging themselves as sticks to avoid predation."

A comment like that would've earned him strange looks and the avoidance of other students back at the Academy, which he was unfortunately used to. But to his unending surprise, Sakura adopted a smug sort of expression and clapped him on the shoulder while Kiba appeared struck, again muttering something along the lines of 'there really are two of them'.

"Ignore him," she dismissed, flashing Shino a reassuring smile as a pout was shot in her direction. " _Some_ people can't appreciate practicality. So what were you saying? About the phasmatodea?"

He blinked. No one at the Academy cared about his interest in entomology. Then again, he didn't really have friends to inquire about his hobbies. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her the same way he would if he were studying a new insect. "You... want to know? You don't find, what others call it—ah, 'creepy'?"

"Why would it be creepy?" It was Kiba who answered that time, and they all took a step forward as the line moved. It sent the Aburame through another succession of blinks. "If that's what everyone else says, don't listen. They can be a buncha assholes. I mean, you've got us now, right? You don't gotta worry about stuff like that anymore."

A small, indescribable warmth flushed through Shino's chest. He didn't know what it was, but it made him smile behind his collar as he nodded and began talking about the anatomical properties of the stick bug.

::

Day three and the surprises kept coming. Her team was coming together rather nicely, but once again, in a way she never expected.

Sakura's misleadings had stunned her to a great extent, but so had Shino's admission to spying on the other teams in order to gather information. The Aburame were one of the four noble clans and were some of the most reclusive people one could ever meet, yet it had taken _three_ days to click into a strange friendship with the rest of his teammates.

Kurenai gazed out the window of her living room, a scroll unraveled in her lap and her hair tied up in a loose ponytail. She supposed she could remove Tracking from her list of team types, leaving Infiltration/Reconnaissance and Rescue/Capture. They certainly had the skills to become trackers, especially with the Aburames' insects and the Inuzukas' scent tracing, but there was something more to them than just picking a trail and following an adversary.

Of course, trackers were shinobi through every inch of their skin, but there was just _something_ about her three students. No one picked up on the secrets lurking under their facades and, just like Sakura said, the only thing they were judged on were based on superficial analyses.

But why?

Then her eyes widened slightly as street lights glimmered in the dark.

 _Because sometimes, children were so underestimated that adults can't see past their own preconceptions._

And Sakura played right into that belief to use it to her advantage, Shino doing so inadvertently.

It made Kurenai wonder if there was something about Kiba the files hadn't noticed either.

::

Sakura's apartment was small, plain, and without a hint of personal touch. Granted, she'd only been living here for two days, but the place looked like it hadn't even been remotely lived in. There was one bedroom, one bathroom, a small laundry room, and the room that cozily fit a kitchenette, a plastic table, and four folding chairs. It wasn't much, but it was enough for one person to live in.

"I'm going to shower first," she announced as she walked down the narrow hall. "Prep the food, don't start without me, don't break anything."

Kiba called back. "Like there's anything to break!"

"If I find the fridge upturned, I'm stuffing your body inside and throwing it out the window!"

At Shino's amused look, Kiba grinned. "Don't worry, there's only a small chance she'd do something like that. Like, a 20/80 chance." He shucked off his grime-stained jacket and left it near the entrance where it couldn't dirty anything else. His torso armor came off with a few clicks and was dropped on top of the jacket, leaving him in his fishnet shirt as he walked over to the sink to wash his hands. "Go ahead and chuck your jacket in the pile too. I don't mind."

Shino stalled for a moment before he complied and unzipped his sea green coat. He wore a black 3/4 sleeved shirt underneath that was still soaked with sweat, which he noted with a nose crinkle in distaste. As he went to wash his hands in following, he looked at Kiba with light curiosity behind his dark lenses. "There is something I've been wondering about for a while. You and Sakura-san were gone nearly half the year of every year throughout your Academy career. Were you not concerned with the curriculum?"

"Sakura was already way ahead and I don't do that good in class."

Shino pushed up his glasses and began washing the vegetables. "If you weren't doing well in class, how did you get your grades up?"

"Oh, she tutored me too. Er, she's easier to understand, doesn't rush things, and makes sure I know how to do something before moving on," Kiba admitted with a sheepish grin. As he turned around to start up the rice cooker, he missed the way the other stiffened in realization.

To him, Kiba had always been a trouble student because he never showed up, never did the work, and certainly never curbed the attitude that landed him in quite a few detentions. Ashamed of his former thinking, Shino knew now that his reasoning certainly wasn't the case. Kiba would've done fine if he'd been given more help. Or, maybe the teachers found him to be a lost cause and didn't bother to spend the extra time on him _because_ of being labeled a 'problem child'—much like he did until about an hour ago.

Guilt pooled into the pit of his stomach.

Sakura walked in with her hair down and damp as it brushed against the sleeves of her red t-shirt. She set a laundry basket down on the ground. "Drop your stuff in here to wash if you don't mind me throwing all our stuff in at the same time. Who's next?"

Kiba nudged Shino towards the bathroom saying he could wait his own turn before ambling back into the kitchen and starting to fry panko crumbs on the stove. "So, you plan on letting him in on all your skills?"

"I might as well," sighed Sakura. She picked up a knife and twirled it in her hand before she set to slicing the bitter melon. She was thinking of making thin strips of it and rubbing some salt to let some of its bitterness drain out, but she'd have to ask Shino his preferences when he got back. "We're a team now and nothing good will come out of hiding things that can save each other's lives. Do you think we can come up with some team dynamic that implements deception?"

Akamaru barked from his spot curled near the fridge and Kiba translated with a snort. "He said of course you can. If you're both devil incarnates he'll agree to something like this." With the panko crisped and off the stove, he left it to air on a plate. Then he began covering the pork cutlets in flour, whisked eggs, and the cooling crumbs.

"Doesn't that make you two devils' advocates?"

He grave her an exasperated look and a playful shove, but didn't deny it. He was in too deep now anyway, so what's the point of fighting against it? Crazy was crazy and if he was sinking into that hell, he could only hope he could pick his own flowers for his funeral.

Shino came out of the bathroom and took the time to place his neatly folded dirty clothes back into his bag. He didn't know Sakura well enough to have a shared laundry load and he certainly didn't want to impose. Kiba, on the other hand, plucked his jacket off the ground and tossed it in the basket before he and Akamaru took off to the bathroom.

"Five years of friendship left little reservation between us," Sakura explained when the heard the bathroom door shut. "Inuzukas are exuberant and open and I never had the social tact to care." She popped the tray of pork cutlets into the oven, set a pot on the stove to start the tofu and mushroom soup, and found out that Shino liked his bitter melon a little less bitter, so started a salt wash.

The latter, now dressed in another pair of brown pants and a gray long-sleeved shirt, tilted his head in her direction. "Pardon my offense, but I do find both you and Kiba to be exceedingly strange."

Sakura quirked up an eyebrow and the corner of her lips pulled up into a small smile. "No offense taken? I guess that's fair. Does it bother you?"

"Not at all. I just... hadn't expected anything that's happened. I was prepared for teammates and cordial meetings." He pointedly avoided meeting her eyes and instead stared at the boiling pot. "I... did not anticipate a branch of friendship so quickly. Not many people particularly _seek_ an association with me."

Long ago, he accepted that people didn't get along with him and that he hadn't done a swell job socializing, so he made sure it didn't bother him as much as it used to. After his adoptive brother had been enlisted in that 'program' all those years ago, the only person he talked to nowadays was—

"My father was my only friend."

Shino's head snapped to the left. That sentence surely hadn't come out of his mouth, but his thoughts were treading on that shaky territory and he never spoke his concerns aloud even when musing to himself. So it must've been Sakura—which it was, and she'd said it with a wistful look on her face.

"I lived in Ame," she said. "The people definitely weren't as nice as they are here. My father knew that, so I spent most of my time alone or with him. Sometimes he'd leave me with his coworkers, but he hated how much they let me get hurt."

Shino reflected on her mangled left ear and the deep scar she bore on her right shoulder.

After salt washing the bitter melon, she set it aside and attended to the soup. "Kiba was my first friend when I came here. When you look at us, I guess you could say we're not good at making friends either. He approached me first and the rest is history. I didn't even think of making another friend until we were assigned teams." Sakura met his gaze, her green eyes bright and deep against her pale but steadily tanning skin. "We're going to be around each other a lot. I'm not going to spend my time trying to 'figure you out' or anything like that. I know you're not a douchebag, so that's enough for me."

He made another one of those amused noises. Fair enough.

"Now that I've gotten to know you a little bit though, I genuinely like you. I don't know if you feel the same with Kiba and I, but it's best to get along, yeah?" She stuck out a hand. Shino carefully inspected the appendage.

"As I said before, you're both exceedingly strange. With the knowledge I have now, perhaps you more so than Kiba," he said. He took her hand in his own and shook. "But I seem to genuinely like you too, oddness aside. Your hair is the same color as the desmoxytes purpurosea."

Sakura laughed. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Kiba and Akamaru reappeared a few minutes later, the former dumping the rest of his clothes in the laundry basket before helping set the table, plating the food, and sitting in the chair nearest to the fridge to Sakura's right. She sat at the head of the table with Shino to her immediate left; the three of them formed an impressive triangle as they picked up their chopsticks and began to eat their dinner.

"So," Kiba started. He looked back and forth between Sakura and Shino as he stuffed a piece of pork into his mouth. "Who'sh goo-in firs'?"


	15. The Weak Are Meat

"I'll go," Sakura offered. She stood to grab a pitcher of water from the fridge and poured three cups and a bowl. For a split second, she paused. "But if I'm going to talk about what I'm really capable of, everyone in this room is to swear nothing said tonight leaves this apartment."

Shino paused himself, his hand hovering over his meal. Her voice was light but its undercurrent was so serious that he didn't know what to make of it. Would it be some insight to her past? Perhaps some information on her origins? Kiba, predictably, stayed unfazed and steadily gnawed his pork.

"I swear on my life," he announced, and Shino did a double take. It was _that_ important? Fine. Then he'd make it so. As Sakura sat back down at the table, he sent a stream of black insects down his chair, across the floor, up the walls, and through all the cracks the dingy apartment had to offer.

"If what you're going to say is as covert as you make it to be, I'll need them stationed in and around the complex," he responded to Sakura's quirked eyebrow and Kiba's flail of surprise. "Why, you ask? To prevent eavesdroppers, of course. Any suspicious activity will be reported to me." He surveyed their expressions. "And I swear on my life as well."

Kiba opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and shoved some bitter melon into his mouth before pointing his chopsticks across the table. "You're a little insane. But low-key awesome. Because being able to do something like that is freakin' cool."

"It is," agreed Sakura. She drew her interested eyes away from the spots wandering about her apartment. "So, what you want to know..." she trailed off. She stirred her bowl of soup with a spoon. "Where should I start?" Tapping her fingers against her chin, she came to a decision. If she was going to make something of herself, she couldn't do it alone, much less keep it hidden from the people she would be spending every waking day for the next year or more. "I'll start from the beginning."

Kiba perked up. "From Ame?" She didn't talk too much about it, and all he picked up from her vague stories were her mysterious single father and his dangerous co-workers.

"From Ame," she assented. "Let's see... I was born and raised in Amegakure. My mother died when I was born so I never met her, and my father is a powerful shinobi from what I've known. Before I started to talk, he taught me the Top 50 Shinobi from the Bingo Book."

Shino tilted his head curiously. "He catered to your window of opportunity."

"Precisely," she nodded, turning to look at Kiba. "It's the time in a child's development where they learn best—basically the time before they turn five." Sakura returned to explaining everything as a whole. "Once I was able to walk, he started training me in the shinobi arts. We went to the fields at night where no one could come across us and went back home before dawn and before the village woke up. My father's boss knew about me— _had_ known about me since I was a couple months old—and gave me a series of tests when I was seven. My father didn't think I knew what was going on, but I did. I was supposed to be like him."

Slowly, Shino and Kiba were coming to the same conclusion. Sakura's background was so much more than an orphan who happened to come to Konoha. Her so-far short explanation suggested a far more dangerous background. Shino chewed on a piece of tofu, mulling over his thoughts, before he asked the one question burning in the air.

"Your father... was he a missing-nin?"

"He is." Is. Present term. That was revealing enough itself. She would never tell them where he was truly from or what he'd done because that was plain incriminating.

A quiet fell over the table as everyone ate their fill and helped clean off the table. She decided to give them time to think—to digest; what she confirmed from their reactions would let her know how to proceed.

Kiba helped pile the plates in the rickety old sink, caught up in his own mind. He'd known Sakura for so long at this point and found out a long time ago that she was privy to her own secrets. Besides, it's not like being rogue ran in someone's blood. Just because her father was someone like that didn't mean she'd turn out the same way. Plus, there were tons of missing-nin out there. What were the chances her father was one of the really dangerous ones?

Shino, on the other hand, decided to take this new piece of information at a more logical approach. After offering to do the dishes and successfully seizing a sponge damp with grapefruit smelling dish soap, he too tried to analyze the angle Sakura was getting at. The information about her parentage could get them in trouble—could get _her_ in trouble. But all things considered, her lying about her skill set and him spying on Konoha shinobi without reasonable cause were grounds for suspicion and, by extension, a possible investigation. And just because Sakura had ended up on Team Eight through luck and unusual channels, she wasn't any less of the person he was starting to get to know.

She took a chance on him when no one else did. It would only be fair if he returned the favor.

He placed the now gleaming dishes on the drying rack and wiped his hands on the hand towel hanging from the oven. "So why did you come to Konoha in the first place?"

"... It wasn't my choice," said Sakura. She capped the leftovers in their respective tupperware containers and opened the fridge. "But my father never wanted his life to be mine. When I was seven, I was brought here. I haven't seen or heard from him since."

Sadness. Loss. Resignation. It colored her words in a single stroke, dripping into the way her shoulders sunk slightly. Her words were real down to the very last vowel.

They didn't realize then that at that moment, an understanding that could never be broken was sealed.

When she backed out of the fridge and tapped it shut with her hip, Kiba slung an arm over her shoulder and grinned. "Since your old man's a big bad, does that mean you know a buncha cool ninja moves you haven't told me about yet?"

"The fact that you're a genin and you refer to shinobi techniques as 'ninja moves' is quite the cause for concern," Shino noted dryly. "It's a wonder you managed to graduate."

Akamaru barked out a laugh as Kiba squawked indignantly, and Sakura's lips quirked up at the growing scene. These two were people she could trust in the meantime, maybe eventually through the fine line between life and death. But for now, she wouldn't worry about that. She'd focus on the present because the future could wait.

"We can finish this conversation back in my room," she said, gesturing them down the hall. Some black spots on the ceiling followed as they walk to the doors farthest down. "I don't have much furniture, but it's better than those plastic chairs."

Upon entering her room, Akamaru leapt up to the foot of the bed and nestled himself in the navy blue covers. Kiba followed suit and plopped on top of her bed. Shino took the less imposing route and sat on the chair at Sakura's simple wooden desk as she took a seat on her windowsill.

"I've said my part," she said, moving her hair over her shoulders. "Your turn, Shino."

He tilted his head upwards to make sure his insects were in place and sent out a small burst of chakra to locate those he couldn't see. Some of his bugs were in the apartment to the right, some to the left, and some were on the roof to gaze out over the moonlit streets.

A small buzz in his ear gave confirmation that they were still in the clear.

"The Aburame are renowned for their insect usage, especially in cases of espionage and eavesdropping," he began. "As a noble clan of Konoha, we've grown to occupy a great deal of missions that require delicate tactics. It's the reason why we've become so secretive and quiet, and have been dubbed a rather 'creepy' sort. Why have we allowed this to go on, you ask? Because we've simply learned not to care. Our skills have been geared towards the unknown due to _others'_ incentive not to care."

He paused as another buzz rumbled in his ear, making him hold a hand up to silence any questions that might have come up. A few seconds later, a loud crash resounded from the apartment to the right followed by a muffled string of curses and a loud 'Sorry!'.

Kiba wrinkled his nose. "That sounded like Naruto."

"Because it is Uzumaki. He's my neighbor," Sakura informed. She glanced back at Shino and nodded. "Continue?"

He had his insects poke around for a few more moments before furthering his explanation. "That itself allowed me to do this without being suspected in the first place. Initially I grew... curious about genin training. Kurenai-sensei's teaching seemed so unnatural that I decided to do some digging while simultaneously developing my own bank of information. After examining the wide scope of our yearmates, I've narrowed the ones we should focus on down to the groups led by Sarutobi Asuma and Hatake Kakashi, teams Ten and Seven respectively."

"Team Seven's a ticking time bomb," she intervened. "Putting dead last, top of the class, and set average might seem like a good idea, but you don't balance two extremes with a middle man—you'll only break the scale."

Kiba sat up with a large puff of air. "Yeah, and Team Ten's pretty predictable. You guys know about the Ino-Shika-Cho combo?" Shino nodded, but Sakura shook her head. "Well, it's this thing with the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi to be placed in the same genin team. Their balance is their tradition. Their fighting styles don't always have to match up 'cause their teamwork is always gonna make up for it. Hasn't really failed them before."

The Aburame nodded once more. "I tried to examine their training styles. Sarutobi-san is more geared towards tactics involving multiple people in a sort of collectivism. While brilliant together, this training might have them fail if they're apart."

A group may be as strong as its weakest link, but it was also a good idea to train one to stand alone if it ever came down to it.

"While observing Hatake-san's team, I noticed he certainly does preach of teamwork, but..." he trailed off uncertainly, mouth pinched into an unsure frown as his arm rested on the desk. Well, there was only so much he _could_ say about an experienced shinobi's training style since he was only twelve years old and by no means a reputable judge, yet...

Kiba perked up. "He sucks?"

"In... a manner of speaking, I suppose. Why? I gather he's never taught before and is rather... neglectful in his guidance," he said. Leaving someone to their own devices wouldn't normally arouse incredulity, but when those devices were being left to babyfaced genin who had yet to learn how the world really worked seemed more than a little problematic. Again, not that he personally knew what they were like, but there wasn't a single doubt in his mind that Kurenai-sensei would show them what that was like soon enough.

"Then why is he a teacher?"

"Who knows. I don't control the questionable minds of our government."

Sakura huffed out an amused laugh before glancing over her shoulder and out the window. Team Eight, in its infancy, would never make the same mistakes the other teams were making. She wouldn't allow it. "So that begs the question," she began, moving her eyes back to the boy. "What are we going to do about it?"

A contemplative silence befell them. That was the real question. What were they going to do—what could they even do? They were still kids on the lowest tier of the shinobi hierarchy. They couldn't access too many books in the library or gain access to or gain information from any place that required higher clearance.

Kiba suddenly jumped to his feet and spun towards the window, startling both the bed and Akamaru who whined in complaint.

"Sorry, boy," he apologized, distracted. "But about that—about what we're gonna do about it—why don't we do what you're doing?"

"What I'm doing?" she repeated.

"Yeah! Hiding where everyone can see us, but really can't!" he exclaimed. He turned to Shino as he waved his arms about. "We'll act like we always do and have people keep thinking we're what we look like: a hotheaded idiot, an antisocial book nerd, and the class creep! I know we're not really those things, but if we keep playing it up so people don't think we're any better than that, they'll never know what's coming to them!"

Shino nodded slowly. "Perhaps you have the makings of an impressive plan, Kiba." The aforementioned puffed up in pride. "Though no one's telling us we shouldn't take it up to another level. What do I mean? We take Sarutobi-san's and Hatake-san's faults and make them 'ours'. We become both collectivistic and individualistic." Unbeknownst to him, he was becoming increasingly excited. Or, as excited as an Aburame could get with their lack of facial expression. "We become genin that have such exceptional teamwork others begin to believe that we can't work apart, like Team Ten. But when separated, we draw upon our individual strengths like Team Seven and catch them unawares. They'll never expect it."

As the two of them bounced words off each other, their ideas grew more and more deceptive as the seconds passed. Sakura watched from her perch on the windowsill. Eyes glimmering, amusement soaring, and grin sharpening to the likes of a hungry great white shark, she thanked her lucky stars. _This_ was a team that would do whatever it took to climb to the top while appearing to amble at the bottom.

She inspected an insect on the wall beside her and stretched out a hand to let it crawl onto her open palm.

Its tiny legs tapped against her skin.

"The weak are meat, the strong eat," she whispered. The bug crawled to the tip of her finger, gazed at her with its kaleidoscopic eyes, then flew off to resume its position on the plain white plaster. Her mouth molded into a grim line. "This time, it _won't_ be me."

::

"Why do you not wish to raise a grave for her?"

It was not raining that day, which was a marvel in itself. Though it didn't spare the gray clouds or the constant chill in the air, it was an eerie sort of calm that was rarely granted to the citizens of Amegakure. Kisame took that scarce time to lumber down to his usual flower shop, purchase a bouquet of lilies from the old shop keep, then walk down to the graveyard to honor the placement of one Hoshigaki Saki.

Whenever he went, he never had visitors. The only person who ever accompanied him was off in the distance, growing up on her own and learning to live on the means he never meant for her.

But his usual, thoughtful solitude had been interrupted. Konan was standing by his wife's grave when he arrived, holding a colorful array of flowers of her own wrapped tightly in sheer paper and twine.

He laid down his lilies first. "Why raise a grave when I have nobody to raise it for?"

"Some do it out of respect."

"Some might. But maybe some of us don't want to see a headstone that belongs to a seven year old girl."

Twelve, now. She would be twelve years old with genin teammates, a teacher, and dreams of her future.

Kisame saddened a bit, and Konan placed her flowers down as well. With a face of pure impassivity, she tilted her head in acknowledgement. "She will be honored regardless, Kisame-san, as all the dead should."

For a brief moment, he felt guilty. Konan, despite all her stoicism, still cared when she didn't have to. Sakura had been a part of her life whether he wanted it or not, and he should've known his pup's "death" would've had that effect. There, looking at her half-lidded eyes and pale, somber face, he almost told her the truth. That Sakura was living a life without him. That she was becoming a beautiful shinobi in a place that could cherish her for who she _was_ , not what she could _do_.

So he opened his mouth and said," She would've loved anything you did for her."

Konan nodded curtly before taking one last look at his wife's headstone and disappearing in a shimmer of origami swans. Kisame's beady eyes trailed after—melancholic, remorseful, and with a hopeless dream that things could've turned out differently.

::

There was definitely something different about her team this morning. A defining closeness showed with the way they stood and spoke, but it was also like nothing had changed from the day before. Kiba was leaning against a tree, talking and gesticulating amiably to his teammates with Akamaru's occasional intervention while Sakura perused through a tome and replied to his inquiries every once in a while and as Shino listened silently.

Kurenai tipped her head and observed them from a distance. They certainly appeared the same—perhaps it was the outcome of whatever they spoke of the previous night? But no matter. Training was planned for the day and she wasn't about to trash it because she was curious about something else.

"Alright, everyone! You'll be completing an obstacle course I've arranged that will test your strength and endurance." Her hands flew through a series of hand signs and the ground rumbled, a whole course emerged from the ground. She felt a small slip of mirth at their slack jawed faces. "Thirteen obstacles, no chakra, two hours, but I expect you all to finish as quickly as your bodies allow."

Oh, and what hell those thirteen obstacles were. After enlisting the help of a wood user in Konoha's ANBU, she'd crafted the perfect training course at the edge of the village where she could make it appear and reappear at will. It started with Deadman's Drop, a six meter wall they had to climb up using only notches in the wood. On the other side of it they'd then slide to the bottom of three mud mounds where they had to keep from slipping off before crawling through even more mud under a sea of barbed wire. Next they'd have to plow through vats of viscous, immobilizing sludge before jumping up and over a series of meter high bars.

Following that, they would need to team up to get over three high walls they could never manage on their own, thus utilizing their need of teamwork to push past difficult situations. Afterwards they'd climb a rope to the top of a platform, swing themselves through a line of monkey bars, shuffle over a gaping floor of net, then make it to the next platform by balancing on a single line of taut wire. They would take another rope down before hopping atop stump after stump while avoiding licks of open fire (that she was positive would give them minimal to no burns).

She expected the last stretch to be the most difficult obstacles. Once they were miserable and worn, they would need to run a full kilometer before meeting their end at three thirteen meter poles they each needed to climb with two five kilogram weights.

Sakura was the first to collect herself and slowly gazed up at her teacher. "... We have to get through all of this? In two hours?"

"I don't expect you to, but every five minutes past your allotted time will be one more lap added to your usual run tomorrow."

Kiba involuntarily shivered. "But _two_ hours? Can we get, like, a pass for our first run?" he questioned hesitantly. He flinched back as she raised an eyebrow at him. "N-Nevermind. I didn't say anything."

"Good," Kurenai nodded. "Because your time has started and it seems you only have an hour and fifty-six minutes left."

That moment, even Shino broke into a run towards the beginning of the course.

::

Three hours and forty-nine minutes later, Kurenai eyed the trio of very distinct heaps on the ground and a whimpering dog sniffing piteously at them. She had to admit, she was quite impressed with what they'd displayed. Some obstacles they had to repeat because of their own inability to clear it in one run, and they always stuck together without downplaying their own individual capabilities. If one made it past and the others were still struggling, they would wait and encourage. That wasn't something most teams did so early in their careers and it made a smile burn true on her face.

Sakura, who had previously doubled over to catch her breath after she fell onto her knees, rolled over on her back and tilted her head back until she met her sensei's bright red gaze. He breath came out in weighty heaves. "Sensei, are you... willing to help us outside of what... the Hokage has asked you to do?"

Shino and Kiba managed to angle their heads towards the conversation, and Akamaru stopped hovering to sit on his haunches and watch.

Kurenai regarded them carefully before a soft smile took her features. So _that_ was what took place the night before. "Of course." Her face straightened out as her tone grew serious. "Why do you think I've been so hard on you three since the beginning of the week? I _will_ be signing you up for the upcoming Chuunin Exams whether you think you'll be ready for it or not, because by the time your training is completed, you _will_ be prepared and you _will_ succeed. Understand?"

Smiles could be made out from under their mud-splattered visages. She cleared her throat and continued. "Tomorrow we'll meet here for our first mission—yes, I know last time I said you'd have one by the end of the week, but I want to take a break from training to introduce you to the true nature of D-rank missions. Which won't take long. Afterwards, I'll be distributing the training schedule for the next month, talk about the habits I'd like you to get into, then discuss any suggestions you'd like to bring up. Questions?"

There were none, but there were shared glances and eyes that flashed in unspoken agreement.

"We'll wait for tomorrow," Shino eventually announced. "If that's acceptable."

Kurenai dipped her head. "Tomorrow, then. Dismissed!"

She granted them one last smile before taking her leave. At her departure, Kiba pushed himself on dirtied, shaky legs and helped Sakura up onto her own unstable ones. Mud coated every single centimeter of their clothes and skin and was starting to cake and crack uncomfortably.

Kiba extended his hand to Shino.

The latter looked at the outstretched hand forlornly.

"Uh... dude? I can help you up."

He stared at the hand for a few more moments before he pointedly turned his head and mumbled, the tips of his ears growing pink.

Sakura's mouth quirked. "What was that? I don't think I heard you."

"... I... can't move."

::

Hey guys! I know this update is later than usual, but expect this sort of sporadic schedule from now on. I'm in college now and got into a research lab, so those will be my priority over this. Don't worry, it hasn't been abandoned, and I definitely will continue to update as quick as I can!


	16. Redefined

A couple of days a week, Kisame would be gone in the early hours of the morning only to return if summoned by Leader or be slated for a mission. The newer recruits all noticed it (because who wouldn't?) but no one ever said anything about it. It was either they didn't care or knew better than to ask, and the other members of the Akatsuki were content to leave it alone. Who were they to raise questions?

But when Itachi noticed, he grew interested. It was because he noticed those curious little things about his partner that he began to try to put together the puzzling pieces of a mysterious past.

He noticed the path Kisame took those mornings lead North to the cafes, the old homes, the chocolate shop, the graveyard. He noticed that on those days, he'd come back with wilted flowers and used incense. He noticed the red ribbon tied to Samehada's hilt.

Though through all his curiosity, he never asked.

It was when they were stranded in a cave during a blizzard in the middle of Frost Country that Itachi built up his nerve. He and Kisame sat on opposite ends of the fire wrapped tightly in their cloaks, their hands tucked under their arms. Later on they wouldn't remember what brought about the conversation they had that night, but they'd blame it on the mixture of cold and fire that muddled their brains and seeped it in melancholy.

"Would you have done as I did, Kisame-san?" Itachi asked quietly. His eyes ghosted with the orange that burned with the fire. "Kill the entirety of your clan and leave the place you once called home?"

Kisame tucked his hands further into himself as a particularly chilly draft wafted into the cave. "Home can mean lots of things. For me, it never was a place."

That revelation made Itachi quieter if it were possible. "... Then?"

"Then what? I already lost them." He turned his head to gaze outside. "My little girl always wanted to see the snow." His eyes darkened. "I never got to take her."

Suddenly, a whirlwind of ideas added up—the reason why Kisame had such an even temperament and why he didn't mind those who engaged in such childish behavior. Kisame was— _had been_ —a father.

Blue lips quirked up. "You know, if you wanted to know more about me, all you had to do was ask. No use in lying about who I was."

Itachi tilted his head, ignoring the slight flare of embarrassment that crawled up the base of his neck but no further. "My apologies."

"Eh, no worries. You didn't know so I won't hold it over you."

Silence grew in their reluctance. They didn't know how long it was until it broke, but it was night when Kisame opened his mouth.

"I'm not gonna sit here and tell you all the things you could've done differently. We're both here and in the Akatsuki. No one's stupid enough to join and not know what they're getting into." He paused and ran a hand over the red ribbon. Samehada rumbled in sympathy. "But you shouldn't have jumped into this kinda life. You should've had better than this."

Itachi shook his head, his pale skin accentuating the horrid darkness beneath his eyes. "I didn't have a choice."

Another draft swept by, and Kisame looked as if he'd lost his home all over again.

"... Everyone has a choice, Itachi-san. It's just that we don't always make the right ones."

::

"Hiya, Sakura!"

Sakura closed the door to her apartment, her key dangling from her fingers as she moved to lock her door. She nodded before they walked side by side down the stairs and to the training grounds. "Good morning, Uzumaki. How's training been? Not too difficult, I hope."

"Nah, we've just been doing exercises with shuriken and kunai, ya know. The bastard thinks he's better than me, but I'll show him, dattebayo!" he exclaimed. She knew just who he was talking about as his and Sasuke's animosity towards each other was near legendary, but she donned on a look of slight confusion and played the part of the bookworm who failed to pay attention to her surroundings.

"Bastard?"

"Oh, uh, you know Uchiha Sasuke? He's my rival!"

Being rivals implied the two people competing against each other were on the same playing field. While Naruto still had a ways to go in terms of skillset, she still lent him a small smile despite her musings. He riled up so quickly it was almost fascinating. "So when you train, is it mostly weapon based?"

"Not just that, we do a buncha other stuff too! Yesterday we had our first D-rank and I thought it was gonna be super cool and stuff, but all we did was pick weeds from this old hag's garden. She even chased me with a wooden spoon!"

Sakura's lips quirked up at the image. "Sounds like a nice old lady."

"Sakura," he whined. She chuckled softly before smoothly changing the tide of their conversation.

"You were telling me about your training?"

"Huh?" he blinked. "Oh, right! So Kakashi-sensei gave us this bell test..."

It was so ridiculously easy to pluck the information she wanted that she almost grew concerned. Shinobi were liars, takers—insincere by design. She honestly hoped he'd figure that out sooner or later and that she wouldn't have to be the one to show him the truth. But for now, she'd let him babble to his heart's content. There was no rush.

At the fork in the road, Naruto's smile suddenly slipped off his face as a sudden shyness overtook him. He twiddled his fingers nervously and gazed down at the spot by his companion's feet. "Hey, Sakura? Um... thanks."

"For?"

"For... well, you know... not hating me."

She peered at him for a couple of moments. She wasn't blind to the prejudice that surrounded him and, for some odd reason, villagers both civilian and shinobi alike regarded him with pure loathing. He was twelve-years-old and didn't have the capacity to do anything _remotely_ close to deserve what everyone was giving him.

She'd get down to the bottom of the mystery of Uzumaki Naruto one day, but that was a problem to solve at a later date. For now, she'd play it like she didn't know any better.

Sakura shrugged. "It's nothing. You never did anything I'd hate you for."

But to Naruto, her words were everything. His face lit with a million watt grin as his eyes shone as bright as the sun. "So does that mean we're friends? Does it? Really?!"

The sheer force of his exuberance made her rear back. Despite his vigor, she supposed it made sense. They talked every other morning and practically walked each other to their respective training grounds. If they weren't friends then they were certainly acquaintances, but acquaintances never really go on their level of amiability. So that left one thing.

"Sure. We're friends."

What she expected was for him to explode in excitement.

What she didn't expect was for him to launch himself at her, pick her up, and twirl her around. Sakura froze when he finally plopped her back onto the ground, but he didn't notice.

"You're the first person to say that, ya know! I'll be a great friend, _I promise_!"

She gathered her bearings rather awkwardly and cleared her throat. "... Right. Okay. If that's what makes you happy." He nodded fervently. "I'll... see you later then, Uzumaki."

He grinned. "Bye, Sakura!"

He darted down his own path and she stared after him for a few seconds before turning towards her own training grounds. She couldn't stop the odd look on her face as the image of Naruto spinning her around like that replayed in her head. Was... Was every interaction with him going to be that intense? Or that _draining_?

She sighed and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers. It was too early for so many emotions.

As Sakura arrived to meet her teammates, it was to a peculiar scene: Shino staring blankly at a solved rubik's cube in Kiba's hands. Slowly, he turned to face the newcomer on the grounds. "He has never seen a rubik's cube until this moment and managed to solve it in five minutes."

 _That_ made her pause more than Naruto's quirks did. She walked up to Kiba's side and curiously peered at the cube. "I've never seen you attempt a puzzle before."

"'Cause they look kinda boring and I didn't try to do them," he shrugged. Akamaru whined and he stuck out his tongue before turning back to his friends. "Why're you guys looking at me like that? Does me doing this thing, er, mean something?"

Sakura crossed her arms and thought back to the tests Leader issued when she was younger. She knew now that it was to test her capacity to fit into the Akatsuki slot he'd prepared for her. That slot was also ultimately filled by Uchiha Itachi, and though she didn't know the exact specifications he had, he was a terribly strong shinobi with a bloodline that leaned towards genjutsu.

Her eyes drew back to the cube. Kiba was smart in his own right despite what others thought of him, but mechanical puzzles like those added a new layer of intelligence. An escapist, quick-thinking, problem solving type of layer.

"If I make a couple of other puzzles, will you try them?"

"Sure." Kiba tossed the cube in the air and caught it. "What're the tests supposed to do?"

"I think you have exceptional problem solving skills you can use on the field to our advantage," she replied honestly. "It's similar to the likes of an escape artist."

He grinned. " _Cool_."

Shino's glasses always hid his eyes, but they both could feel the unimpressed stare he imposed upon them. "You're willing to cultivate an escape artist in Inuzuka Kiba? Ah, I see. This is the part where I'm supposed to say that you've lost your mind."

"Fair enough, but I'll take my chances."

"Hey! I'm standing right here, ass—!"

A plume of smoke and a body erupted from thin air, cutting Kiba off and alerting the team to the arrival of their teacher. The air cleared and her smiling face became visible as she held out a scroll.

"Your first D-rank mission!" Kurenai informed happily. "Work at the daycare!"

::

Aburame Shibi, in the simplest terms, was intrigued. Recently, he hadn't been home in the evenings due to his duties as a clan head and for his obligation to Konoha. But yesterday—the one day he did come home at a reasonable time—Shino wasn't there.

Though when he finally was, Shibi didn't even try to hide his surprise.

 _Training, he deduced. Shino wouldn't be home all the time anymore and was one step closer to becoming a great shinobi._

 _About an hour or so later as he read through files in the comfort of his living room there was a small click of the door opening. He expected to hear his son's quiet greeting but was instead flooded by a strange myriad of voices._

 _"Why do you weigh as much as a stick? Come on, dude, y—"_

 _"My weight is within my personal BMI, therefore your claim is invalid," his son spoke quietly, but indignantly._

 _"Whatever, a BTM isn't gonna tell me you actually weigh enough."_

 _"BMI stands for Body Mass Index, Kiba," a higher voice informed. "It's a chart that compares your height and weight and shows you a range of acceptable weight classes. Shino's probably right in saying he's in the green, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was on the line with the underweight category."_

 _"HAH!"_

 _"... Traitor."_

 _Three people appeared in his line of sight, each caked in liberal amounts of mud. An eyebrow raised at the curious cluster of kids that stepped into the living room. His disheveled son was supported by an Inuzuka main-houser and a girl with hair browned like the rest of her. But he could see some pink strands peeking out._

 _The Inuzuka seemed to notice his presence first and quickly bowed his head. "Aburame-sama."_

 _Shibi tilted his head and watched as that same boy nudged the girl and mouthed 'noble house'. She straightened and gave the same bow and greeting. Not a clan child then, he mused. A civilian born, maybe. Most likely foreign born if her Kiri-esque attire had anything to say about her._

 _"You're Shino's teammates, yes?" he inquired in kind monotone. At their weary nods, he continued. "Then Aburame-sama is too much of a formal title." Not really, but he was getting excited at the prospect of Shino having people to actually lean on, both figuratively and literally. "You may address me as Shibi-sama, if you wish. Would you two like to stay for tea?"_

 _He watched his son's eyes cloud with confusion even from behind his smudged glasses._

 _"W-We don't want to impose," Kiba stammered. His grip tightened around the part of Shino's arm draped across his shoulder. "We're really dirty too—we don't want to make your house messy, erm, sir."_

 _He went quiet for a painful few seconds, blank faced and all, before he nodded and gestured towards the stairs. He took note of the way Kiba's eyes flashed (...in victory? For what?) and how the girl's gaze flickered around his home like she was searching for something. "Shino's room is the second door on the left. It's been a pleasure meeting you..." he trailed off meaningfully._

 _"Inuzuka Kiba, sir."_

 _"Sakura, sir. No surname."_

 _He nodded and dismissed them, and as he watched them slowly make their way up the stairs, he saw tiny black insects crawl over the backs of the kids' shoulders and into Shino's collar._

Shibi frowned at the memory. Placing kikaichu on others was meant almost exclusively for field missions but otherwise for their clan, a sign of immediate trust. Glancing back at the spot he last saw those two strange genin, his frown deepened.

He didn't know whether to be proud or concerned.

::

"I'd rather be subjected to another round of yesterday's obstacle course than repeat this mission."

Kiba howled with laughter as they walked out of the day care center. Sakura's face contorted into one of disgruntlement, and even Shino had to be amused at her expense.

"Dude, you suck at taking care of kids."

"They're small and uninterested in the shinobi arts. What am I supposed to do with them?"

They knew her line of thinking was probably due to the nature of her childhood and they knew they couldn't fault her because of it. It didn't make it any less funny, though.

Shino smirked. "Perhaps you should just play with blocks without lecturing two year olds on structural integrity?"

"If they're so intent on creating buildings they should know the fundamentals of what won't make them fall," she insisted. Sakura huffed as Kiba entered another round of belly-deep laughter, but gave in to a small smile in the end when he and Shino bumped their shoulders into her as they walked down the street and to Kurenai's apartment, where she said she'd meet them after the success of their first mission.

They expected her to tell them more of the hell training regime she planned for them, but once she saw them waiting patiently on her doorstep, she swept them inside and onto the seats surrounding her quaint dining table.

"How was the mission?" she asked by way of greeting. She bustled about the kitchen, starting a pot of tea, collecting several sheets of paper, and opening the blinds to let some sunlight through. "Not much of a challenge, was it?"

"Sakura doesn't know how to talk to kids!"

"They're small and clueless."

"You just described Kiba, yet you still put up with him, don't you?"

"Okay, FIRST of all, how _dare_ you, SECOND—"

Kurenai smiled to herself as she watched her students dissolve in a friendly squabble. From her peripheral observation, Sakura looked so different than the cold, loose cannon she was first introduced to just days before as she actually smiled and engaged in conversation that didn't involve a burdening weight. Shino was so much open as well, at least more so than what his files disclosed of him. And Kiba, it seemed, was not as aggressive as the six years of behavior slips painted him to be.

 _"In short, your Archives know nothing about me."_

Her smile faltered for a split second.

It would appear that Sakura wasn't the only one the Archives knew nothing about.

Drawing in a deep breath, she resumed observing her team. This was good. They were getting along. It wasn't hard to grow to like them—they were the first group of students she ever had the pleasure of taking care of, and it was turning out to be more unexpected than she could ever imagine. Slightly troubling, but a thrill.

Almost... almost like an adventure.

Albeit illegal, but an adventure nonetheless. And she wouldn't be anyone if she didn't make her team succeed like no one else before them.

As the tea finished she poured a cup for each of them and placed a pot in the center of the table along with a small bowl of honey, a carafe of milk, and a plate of lemon and ginger slices. Kurenai set a snack plate of daifuku buns along with it, to which all three of her students glanced at each other before sharing almost identical questioning looks.

"Uh... sensei?" Kiba started, scratching his cheek with a finger. "You didn't have to get us snacks."

She waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry. You've just completed your first mission, so consider this a small celebration. Go on, enjoy!"

Reluctantly, they did, and Kurenai silently mused on how she could tell the type of people they were by how they took their tea. Kiba had a lot of milk and honey, Shino added a spoonful of ginger, and Sakura took hers without adding anything. One was sweet and wholesome, one had a bit of a kick, and one was recognizable and blunt. Respectively, of course.

She shuffled back around to hand each of them a small packet of papers before taking a seat at the only one left: the seat across Sakura's.

"The first page is a food list I've compiled," she explained as the peered curiously at the print. "Now that you're fully-fledged shinobi, it's good to have a protein-packed diet while engaging in physical activity and having a healthy lifestyle. You don't have to follow that list food by food, but it should give you an idea of what I expect from you from now on. Fruits and vegetables are always a must and you can fill in the rest of your food pyramid as long as it's in compliance with good habits."

Not long after her words did Kiba excitedly point to the 'snack' portion of the list. "It says here I can eat jerky!"

"In moderation," Sakura commented immediately, not taking her eyes off the sheet. He huffed as he stuck his nose back into the list. Kurenai's smile widened and she continued.

"The second is a list of books on different subjects and theories I thought would apply to your training. As of right now, my aim is to make you an Infiltration/Reconnaissance team," she admitted. She watched the looks on their faces for any averse reaction, but found none. Kiba soaked the information like a sponge, Shino leaned a tad more forward in curiosity, and Sakura had yet to look up from the packet. "You'll have to lie, observe, fall into roles, fade into the background. Meaning, find a way to rely on not being a shinobi."

"But we _are_ shinobi," Shino interjected with a slight crinkle of his brow. She nodded.

"Yes, but it will never be all that you are. Remember that."

But unbeknownst to her, the one moment she took her eyes off Sakura was the moment the girl took the moment to flinch and focus even more on the paper in her hands. Shinobi would never be all that they were? It was the only thing she was going to be, to the death.

She would be an exemplary shinobi, or she would be nothing at all.

Sakura flipped to the last page and glanced at the single, charted schedule presented to her.

 **Monday: Obstacle Course/Physical Training**

 **Tuesday: Chakra Training**

 **Wednesday: Physical Training**

 **Thursday: Weapons Training**

 **Friday: Water Training**

 **Saturday: Mission**

 **Sunday: Off**

Minutely confused, she lifted her head for the first time since receiving the packet. "What do you mean by 'water training'?"

Kurenai's smile transformed into a grin. "Oh, that means we're going to the pool every Friday from six in the morning to two in the afternoon. You'll be performing exercises, swimming laps, and learning to control your breathing. I've already worked everything out with the owner—he's an old friend of mine and pulled some strings," she said. She either didn't notice or didn't pay attention to the resigning looks the three began to dawn. "Shino, Kiba, square leg swimsuits, jammers, or briefs are fine. Sakura, you can pick any one piece swimsuit be it regular, kneesuit, or something of the like. I have goggles for your use as well as caps, but the caps aren't required."

Silence descended the table.

Then Kiba turned towards her incredulously. "What, are you gonna make us compete too?!"

"... That's actually not a bad idea," she hummed. The table shook with the force of whoever just kicked Kiba in the shin, but she didn't know if Sakura or Shino had done it. Their blank faces were suspicious, but their twin smirks after the yelp of pain made it even more so. Either way, if the way Akamaru choose Shino's lap as his next resting spot said anything, it was quite the tell. She laughed. "Though as good as that sounds, there's little chance you'll actually get put in a competition. Don't worry."

Kiba pouted as he rubbed his shin and snagged a daifuku bun, quietly grumbling about how his friends were assholes.

Their faint humor slowly slipped out of the atmosphere then as the original topic of their meeting encroached on each edge of their minds.

"Sakura," Kurenai started. The one in question angled her head up. "Shino and Kiba know about you now... but just how much have you disclosed?"

"All of what you know," the girl said, tilting her head in thought for a few moments. "Among other things you don't."

Kurenai didn't push the cryptic meaning. Sakura would be willing to tell her what exactly she meant once it was time. "I see. Then I believe it's time to let you know that I intend to train you as if you were my jounin equals. I'm not going to go easy on you, but I'm also not going to push you to the point where you feel like you can't do it anymore. I'm here to make you _succeed_ —the last thing I want is for you all to feel like failures."

Which, in point, she felt was a valid criticism against a lot of current teachers, both against those who taught in the Academy and those mentoring young genin. What was the point of raising a new generation if the one's doing the raising ridiculed them for failing and had them try to stand on their own without providing the foundation? It was simply ridiculous, and Kurenai failed to see the merit in that sort of method.

"Along with that," she continued, an encouraging smile on her face. "You'll show different fronts to different people to incite confusion among the masses. Nothing too noticeable, just enough to be unsettling."

Shino perked up. Now they were _really_ getting somewhere. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Take Asuma-san's team, for example. They're excellent in teamwork, so use your own teamwork to appear you're on level ground."

"We talked about something like that last night!" Kiba exclaimed. "So like when we go against Team 7, they'll think we won't have good teamwork like them, so they'll never expect it when we band together and BAM! Asses kicked! Never show anyone our true sides, amirite, sensei?"

Sakura turned her head back down to the packet in her hands and flipped to the list of books, paying close attention to the list of theories they offered: elegance and sophistication, deceptive clumsiness, breath control, lock picking, lying, etiquette and customs around the world, hustling, navigating... It was a very broad amount of coursework, but it was enough to get them started.

Something nudged at her ankle and she glanced down to see Akamaru with his tongue flopping out the side of his mouth and his pair of rust colored eyes gazing questioningly up towards her. Her lips quirked up as she reached down to pat his head a few times before returning her attention to the rest of her team.

"—but yes, never showing your true side to potential opponents is always a plus," said Kurenai. "Now that we've got that cleared up, does anyone have any other questions? I assure you that I'll go into more detail as we get to it, but as for right now..." She glanced around the table, searching for inquiry but finding none. "No? Alright." Shuffling around the kitchen once more, she pulled out another plate of sponge cakes that she brandished before her. "Who wants more snacks?"

::

When the blizzard passed, so did their mission. It was quick, efficient, not unlike anything else they'd taken before. The path back to Amegakure had been a quiet one—moreso than usual—with new knowledge pulsating in Itachi's mind and quiet thought flowing in Kisame's.

They were only a few hours off returning when Itachi, once more, broke their silence. "... How do you cope?"

"Cope?"

"With the things you've done," he elaborated in his smooth, muted tones. "Or, perhaps, with the people you've lost?"

Because sometimes the weight was unbearable like an anvil to the chest, slowly sinking and crushing your ribs one by one before its cool metal smothered your heart. And sometimes he did stop, and consider: _Was it all worth it?_

"I'm not a good man," Kisame answered, rolling his shoulders easily. "I've come to terms with it and I've learned to come to terms with it. But with my wife and my little girl—my home? I do what I can."

Itachi tilted his head to the side. "And that would be...?"

A sad smile with sharp, white teeth lit up an unnaturally monstrous physique. "I hope and I pray that they'll never be blamed for the things that I've done."


	17. Forced Silence

Sakura woke up to shouting and fists pounding on the door the next apartment over. The only neighbor she could figure could accrue that much noise was Naruto, and to be honest, she wasn't that surprised something he'd done or was doing acted as her alarm for the day. Really, it was only a matter of time.

She rolled out of bed and threw on one of Kiba's old jackets he left hanging on the back of her door. By the time she cracks open her own door, leans against the frame, and observes the two genin standing off just to the side, a comment was already sliding off the tip of her tongue. "You could try using the door knob. Sometimes he doesn't lock it."

Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata jumped and whirled around.

Hinata muttered out a polite hello. Sasuke, in all the indifference he showed her their entire Academy career, huffed and crossed his arms in his customary fashion. "Hn. Sakura. I didn't know you lived here too."

She shrugged and glanced at the clock in her living room. 6:55. Still early. She turned back to them and gestured towards the door. "Like I said, try the door knob."

He donned a mildly doubtful look but tried regardless and—to his utter exasperation—the door swung open.

"Idiot, stupid excuse of a damn _shinobi_ —" He stormed in a flurry of shouts and curses while Hinata hung back nervously as she wrung her hands together. Her pale eyes darted back and forth on the floor before she raised them and shyly met the other girl's neutral gaze.

"Th-Thank you for the suggestion. Naruto-k-kun's a bit late, you see-see."

Sakura waved her off. "No worries, everyone has their off days. Hope you have a nice rest of your day, Hyuuga-san."

"You as-as well, S-Sakura-san," she replied, face tinted pink. Sakura smiled slightly and shut the door and walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She shucked off the jacket and tossed it on her bed before changing into her clothes for the day. On her desk lay the test puzzles she made for Kiba the night before; she placed them in a plain folder and slipped it into her pack along with a few protein bars, bottles of water, and a couple of the books Kurenai suggested.

As she slung a strap over her shoulder, she took one last look at her room before leaving.

Above her bed were four, thin, white wall scrolls of her own calligraphy, each with their own select phases.

 _"Remember what you witnessed here. This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world."_

 _"Did you understand that, girl? You're_ their _homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?"_

 _"Because I'm not a good man."_

 _"You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all."_

Her gaze had sunk slightly after she turned away. "To remember," she murmured. Even though she didn't need to see the words to know them, it was nice to have something to look at when she thought of how to be better, stronger.

 _Exemplary._

::

Kiba sauntered down the stairs of his house, brandishing a wide yawn and wearing one of Sakura's old purple shirts. Akamaru trotted by his feet in a similar state of half-awareness as his partner slumped at the table beside a snoring Hana while mumbling 'good morning' to his mother preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

"Glad you don't look like shit the way you did a couple of days ago," Tsume greeted. "You never did tell me how your mission went yesterday. You guys pass?"

"'Course! Who'dya think we are?" Kiba yawned again. "And Sakura totally sucks at taking care of kids. I don't think she really likes them or anything."

"Ha! That kid's pretty cold, I'm not surprised. When's the next time you'll bring her over?"

"Mm... end of the week, probably? Like always."

Hana shook herself awake and stretched her arms high over her head. The Three Haimaru Brothers wagged their tails around her seat. "What about your other teammate—that Aburame. Shibi-sama's son. That one."

"Shino's just as messed in the head as Sakura."

Their mother barked out a laugh. "I already like him!"

"Yeah, he's pretty cool."

As Kiba rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, his mind trailed back to the conversation he and the rest of his team had in Sakura's apartment the day they made dinner. He mulled over what they talked about, the things they'd be pretending to do and the things they'd have to work harder on until an odd thought popped into his head. Questioningly, he looked over his shoulder. "Is Uzumaki Naruto an orphan?"

The first thing he noticed was how the air in the room shifted. He wasn't stupid; he saw the way his mom thought he wouldn't pay attention to the atmosphere, so he acted like how he normally did. Oblivious.

"He is," Tsume said. Her back was turned to him to hide the _look_ he knew was on her face. "Why, you curious about him or something?"

"He's Sakura's neighbor. You know, since she moved out of the orphanage an' all and has a new place." He conveniently left out the part where he thought it was weird that Naruto lived there too. If he hadn't lived at the orphanage with Sakura or at any other places in the system, did that mean he'd already been living there for years? And if that was, how come it was allowed? He'd seen the locals catch kids who weren't where they were supposed to be. Naruto might be a total outcast, but that didn't mean he had to be treated any different.

Especially from the adults. You know, the people who actually had to make _decisions_ for their society.

"I wouldn't worry about him," she dismissed easily. She piled their breakfast on eight different plates and set them out on the floors and tables. "That Uzumaki's trouble. Y'shouldn't associate with him if you don't need to."

Kiba bobbed his head and dug into his breakfast with gusto.

But inwardly, his alarm bells screeched so loud that if they were real, they would've make his ears bleed. His mom... why would his mom say something like that? _He_ was always called a troublemaker in class and always overheard teachers saying he wasn't worth their time if he kept blowing off his work like he did. He was always used to being talked about like that, but hearing it about someone else kinda... hurt.

Suddenly he didn't feel that hungry anymore.

He pushed his half-eaten plate—the part he did eat weighing too heavily in his stomach—towards the middle of the table and stood up. "I'm gonna go get ready. Uh, we were supposed to meet early today. I forgot."

Confused, Tsume, Hana, and the other grown ninken watched the youngest two of the pack hurry up the stairs without so much a glance behind them.

::

Every once in a while, Kurenai and some of the rest of the jounin sensei met up for breakfast. Maito Gai and Sarutobi Asuma were her usual companions. They'd always invited Hatake Kakashi whenever they went out, though, but he hadn't shown up once and probably wouldn't in the near future.

He'd show up one day, they just had to keep waiting. Though for now, Kurenai decided to use this opportunity to see what kind of information she could pry out of the others while she masked it under the "I'm-a-new-jounin" facade.

Needless to say, it worked.

"Well, teamwork is important," Asuma said immediately. "I was fortunate enough to have an Ino-Shika-Cho group under my wing, so I don't think it'll be too hard to instill that bit." He took a drag of his cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke away from the table. Kurenai's first mental note: lecture her students on the dangers of tobacco. "What I do is put them in situations—simulations, I guess—where they have to puzzle out the different ways they can help each other get themselves out of trouble."

Kurenai's second mental note: Place her students in both metaphorical, moral, and literal situations they have to get themselves out of. It builds character.

"I agree!" Gai enthused. "Genin are placed in teams for a reason! I suggest trust exercises so they all understand the importance of good-natured youth!"

Kurenai's third mental note: Her team doesn't need trust exercises. Whatever weird thing they already had going worked fine as long as it was enforced with her plans in her second mental note.

Donning a feigned curious expression, she took her glass of juice and sipped, looking the perfect picture of a naive lady to keep her friends' guard lowered. "Does Kakashi-senpai do the same with his team?"

Gai perked up. "Ah, my dear rival does something quite infamous to test each genin team he received. Many have attempted over the years and only the most recent Team Seven has passed!" Kurenai's brow furrowed. That was harsh. "It's what he dubs the 'Bell Test'. Kakashi has two bells he carries on his person and his three students have to compete for them. He says whoever doesn't receive the bell gets tied to a stump when time's up and gets sent back to the Academy once their training time is over."

"But there's a catch," Asuma continued. "In the time that the genin who didn't get a bell gets tied to a stump is when the others get to eat lunch. If they don't show an ounce of teamwork by the end of that lunch period, Kakashi fails them all and sends all three back to the Academy."

Kurenai admitted it was an _unusual_ way to pass a team, but still, it would've been hard to fail two main clan children and the Kyuubi host. It would've been a missed opportunity. "Interesting..." she mused. As their food arrived and the topic of conversation casually drifted to something else entirely, she kept what she learned in mind.

She blinked as she realized what she'd done.

Maybe her team was becoming a bad influence on her.

::

Shino was reading a book on advanced surveillance when he was approached by Kiba looking more troubled than he normally was. He marked his page before shutting the cover and offering his new friend his full attention. "Something the matter?"

Akamaru whimpered as he glanced up at his partner, and Kiba doesn't look up as his arms crossed. "I wanna find out the deal with Uzumaki."

"I don't recall us having a 'deal' with him."

"No, but..." Kiba trailed off uncomfortably. "Look, I'm not sayin' there's something wrong with him, 'cause there's not, but you've noticed it, right? About him?"

"Noticed what?"

"That—That people treat him like _shit_!" he exclaimed. Shino reared back slightly at the redness in Kiba's face and the way Akamaru whined in concern. "Even Iruka-sensei completely ignore him until after graduation, then—then all of a sudden he started treating him like an actual person! What did Naruto ever do to get the shit he does? Huh?!"

His defensiveness had come out of nowhere, Shino thought, but he knew that Kiba had been treated in a similar way back in the Academy. It definitely hadn't been as bad as the way everyone else treated Naruto, but maybe he was feeling guilty for not doing anything about it?

But with Kiba's guilt came his own. He only recently realized the bias he placed against his current teammate through getting to know him better. A nauseating feeling swept Shino's stomach as he once again realized he'd thought about Naruto the same way.

A hand fell onto Kiba's shoulder and he turned to look up at Sakura's face. Her eyebrows were creased and knowing her, she'd overheard most, if not all, of the conversation. Still, Kiba opened his mouth. "Did you—"

"Yeah. Are you really—"

"Yeah."

"Alright."

Shino understood none of the short conversation, but what mattered was that Sakura was now in the loop. He glanced up and took in their surroundings at the training grounds, scanning the canopy before moving his attention back to the group. "Then would this be our first unofficial mission as an Infiltration/Reconnaissance Team?"

Sakura's eyes sparked with interest. "It would be, wouldn't it? But since we have Kurenai-sensei in our corner, we'll have to get her approval."

"We have to?" Kiba frowned. He scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Yeah, I guess. We have to like, keep her trust, right?"

"She _did_ lie for us," Shino reminded him. "Why? I still haven't fathomed a sensible reason, but it's within our best interest to alert her of things that could get us into trouble."

Kiba blinked. "This can get us into trouble?" Akamaru barked and he shook his head. "Yeah, I know what Mom said, but..."

"Tsume-san said something to you about Uzumaki?" Sakura questioned. He bit his lip and looked back down at the ground, reluctant. Shino and Sakura exchanged glances at his odd show of behavior.

"I—"

A cloud of smoke alerted them of Kurenai's arrival and Kiba shut his mouth in return. "Good morning, everyone!" she started. "I hope you all had a restful Sunday..." She trailed off as she noticed the serious expression on their faces.

"We did," Shino answered on their behalf. "And you, sensei?"

"Mine was quite calming, thank you," she said. "Is there... something I should know about?"

Sakura stepped up for a reply this time. Kurenai braced herself for what she had to hear, because when the girl normally had anything crucial to say, it usually involved something that either a) was questionably legal or b) unexpected.

"Why does everyone treat Uzumaki Naruto like he's less than a person, and whenever asked about him, people act like they're not supposed to talk?"

Kurenai breathed out a strangled sigh. Okay. So this time, it was both illegal and unexpected. "Because we're not allowed to talk about it," she admitted. "And I won't say any more about it." Kiba opened his mouth to protest, but she raised her hand to stop him. "I'm not going to stop you if you're going to try to figure out the mystery on your own. There's no law against accidentally finding out... well... this."

Kiba narrowed his eyes. "And you'll tell us if we're right or not?"

"I will neither confirm or deny, but I have a feeling you'll know if you're right once you find it." She imagined they would've sought the answer for themselves even if she hadn't given them permission, but she appreciated the fact they brought it up with her first. The topic of Uzumaki Naruto was one she didn't like going too much into and she had no idea where the sudden interest came from, but all she had to do now was wait and see. "Now," she announced as she clapped her hands together. "Today's Monday, and that makes it a physical training day. I've set up the obstacle course and you have two hours to complete it, just like last time. And again, every additional five minutes is an additional lap you have to run tomorrow. You may begin."

As she watched them go, she held a small marble of hope in her heart that they took all of their time possible to find out about the truth behind Uzumaki Naruto.

::

They decided to start their research that day.

Immediately after practice, Shino and Kiba headed over to Sakura's apartment to clean up before heading to the library right after. They hadn't anticipated their impromptu plans and thus hadn't brought spare clothes with them, and Sakura simply solved their problem by handing them some of her clothes to wear. Shino was a bit taller than her and Kiba was a bit shorter, but she normally bought clothes one size up in the unisex section and the latter had half her clothes at his place anyways, so no fuss was thrown.

Except when Kiba had to roll up his pant legs in the middle of their walk after almost tripping on them.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up!" he growled as the others tried to cover their amusement with well-placed coughs. "But when I grow taller than you both, guess who'll be laughin' then!"

He didn't know until years down the line that he would be sorely disappointed.

The public library lay near the Academy and operated on a 24/7 basis. Normally they'd enforce a 'no food or drink' rule when staying at the tables, but it was nearly ten in the evening when they arrived and the receptionist was just a teenager who didn't even acknowledge them when they walked in, so they headed to the third floor, grabbed a corner spot, and started eating the take-out they bought before they got there.

They had no idea what could count as a starting point, but libraries were a wealth of information. They could at least establish a foundation.

Sakura tapped her finger on the edge of the table. "We should make a list of things people are most prejudiced against."

Kiba and Shino winced, the former taking a huge bite of his food. "Dude, that's definitely a can of worms I don't want to open."

She stood and pulled a dictionary from one of the shelves to bring back to the table. Flipping to the definition of 'prejudice', she recited: "'A preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience'." She flipped the pages again. "Maybe it's discrimination: 'the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.'" More flipping. "But ostracizing seems more like what's going on since there's nothing we can quite pick out. Ostracize: 'to exclude, by general consent, from society, friendship, conversation, privileges, etc.'"

"Which begs the question, is the resentment towards Uzumaki a product from the typical strands of discrimination? No one's mentioned anything of his gender or sexual orientation, he's not from another nation, we don't have an age issue in our graduating Academy class, and no ableist language has been used against him as far as we know," said Shino.

Kiba frowned into his food. "They could've been shitty to him 'cause he's not as smart as everyone else."

Sakura took out a sheet of paper and makes the first bullet point on the list: Intelligence.

"Behavior," Shino added.

"Hyperactivity," she noted. "Pranks too, but I suppose that goes along with behavior."

"Aggression?" came the second suggestion.

"I dunno, I think he's only like that 'cause people are already doin' stuff to him," Kiba said. "So it's, uh, like a... an effect?"

They tried to puzzle out more reasons based on his innate traits and personality, but nothing else came to mind. Naruto was what most considered a troublemaker who had bad grades. If the hate wasn't based on him personally, then perhaps—

Shino lifted his head, something suddenly coming to mind. "The Uzumaki were an important clan."

Kiba perked up along with him. "Yeah?"

"I read somewhere... _Konoha's History_ , perhaps? It wasn't one of the Academy's editions but one that my father owned. I'll have to ask for it again, but if I remember correctly they had strong ties with the... Senju? Yes, the Senju. The First Hokage hailed from them, cementing what would be an important clan to preserve," he explained. "Since therefore their importance would span the times, assuming the Uzumaki would be included in that preservation, perhaps I was incorrect in my original assessment and his lineage takes part in why the people hate him so vigorously."

So Sakura added more to the list: Parents; who were they? She set her pencil down and cracked her knuckles. "We can take a more immersive approach to this issue."

"I'll ask my father for his history book and look into bloodlines to make connections."

"I'll ask some of the others we went to class with. I mean, we never really knew why they picked on Naruto, so it doesn't hurt to ask, right?" Akamaru popped out of his hood and bobbed his head in agreement.

"And I'll shadow him after practice tomorrow. See what I find," Sakura said. It was nearing midnight by then and they still had to wake up early for training the next day, so they began to pack their things and agreed to continue researching tomorrow. Before they took their leave, though, Kiba held out his fist to the middle of the group. Sakura stood still for a moment before she bumped her fist with his and held it in place.

Shino stared. "What are you doing?"

"Dude, it's a fist bump."

"What is its purpose?"

"To—you know, be like 'aw yeah we're doing great let's be cool about it'. It'll be a team thing!"

"But—"

Sakura stops him with a _look_. "Shino. Just fist bump."

Mildly disgruntled and only a tad annoyed at not understanding the concept of a fist bump, he curled his fingers into his palm and fist bumped the rest of his team.

::

Tuesday was a day of molding chakra to the bottom of their feet and trying to climb up the side of trees with only their soles.

Sakura got it on the first try. Shino got it on his twenty-third. Kiba got it on his sixtieth, along with the promise of the beef jerky Shino said he'd get him if he was able to complete the exercise that same day.

Kurenai dismissed them early after they'd successfully completed the exercise three times each, bidding them a soft goodbye and telling them they'd have a new physical exercise tomorrow. Right when she took her leave, Sakura, Shino, and Kiba split to complete their parts of their research and agreed to meet at their corner in the library at ten to see what they found.

Eight hours.

::

Shino headed home with his father in mind, intent on getting those history books and gaining clearance to comb through the Uzumaki bloodline. Eventually, he found Shibi in the laundry room staring a pair of black pants and a gray t-shirt. His father looked up in confusion and held up the outfit. "Did you get new clothes?"

"Those are Sakura's."

His father raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"I borrowed them yesterday after training. We went to the library and we couldn't possibly have gone in our then-current clothes," he elaborated. "Why? It would've been improper."

"What about _your_ clothes, then?"

Shino looked down in thought as his mouth crinkled slightly to form a bare shadow of a pout that still would've looked blank-faced to any non-Aburame. Shibi could barely restrain the uncharacteristic urge to clutch his chest and gape. How influential was this new team to make his boy show such _emotion_?

"I forgot them there. I'll remember to ask her about them later."

He wouldn't.

That aside, Shino adjusted his glasses. "Father, is it alright if I borrow some books from your personal library? All I require are the ones on history and bloodlines."

"I... Of course," Shibi answered, regaining his stoic composure. "Look up as much information as you need." His eyes trailed his son curiously as the boy made his way to the study. A few moments passed before he turned back to the laundry. He stared at the clothes in his hands for a little longer, a quirk of a smile reaching his lips as he folded the shirt and pants and moved on to the rest of the clothes.

In the study, Shino found the history book he recalled from yesterday and flipped to the page that mentioned the Uzumaki.

 _The Uzumaki and the Senju were descendants of Otsutsuki Asura, younger son of Otsutsuki Hagoromo (see Index). Both clans were distantly related, but managed to maintain close bonds that were further renewed through the occasional marriage. (see List of Marriages Under Uzumaki and Senju, pg. 23)._

He went to page twenty-three and spotted the first Senju-Uzumaki marriage in Konoha that could've created a line.

 _Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito_

He bookmarked the page and picked out similar books to add to his pile including _A Brief History of the Land of Whirlpools_ and _The Legacy of the First Hokage_.

The scrolls on bloodlines that every noble house was entitled to sat on the highest shelf and was marked with dowels carved from marble. He took the scrolls on the Senju and the Uzumaki, each about a paragraph long, and sent a stream of bugs down his left forearm.

"Copy it using the paper on my father's desk," he murmured. "It would do me no good if he suspected my interest on anything other than pure curiosity."

As his insects completed their task, he noted some of the keywords those sparse paragraphs contained.

 _Senju:_

 _Will of Fire; Wood Release; Leadership_

 _Uzumaki:_

 _Strong Life Force; Longer Lifespans; Healing Prowess_

But then, there was something that ultimately caught his attention: "Uzumaki Mito, the Kyuubi's first jinchuuriki..." he mumbled. What was a jinchuuriki? Or the Kyuubi?

Brows furrowed, he gathered the copies and stacked them atop the books he already collected and quickly moved back to the shelves to get more. Nothing there mentioned those two words he'd never heard before, so he pulled out a recently published history book filled with the information of the past twenty years.

Jinchuuriki. Kyuubi. Those sounded important, but why didn't he know them?

Thoroughly bothered by the lack of information, he hastened to place his books in a bag before hurrying out of the house and bidding his father a quick goodbye.

He had a puzzle to try and solve, and he had a little more than seven hours to do it.

::

When Kiba arrived to their corner spot in the library with the information he gleaned off a good number of locals, his jaw dropped at the sheer number of books piled on the table, floor, chairs, and just about every available stackable surface. What was even more eye-catching was the frazzled Shino sitting in the midst of them with papers strewn about and various colored x's, circles, and arrows pointing to and away from what he'd written.

"Shino, dude..." he muttered. Akamaru sniffed at the heaps on the ground as he set his pack down and moved to stand at his friend's shoulder, peering down and trying to make sense of the nonsensical mess that met his gaze. "What the hell happened here?"

"I... Things aren't making sense. History books aren't matching each other and information is missing—have you ever heard the terms Kyuubi or jinchuuriki?" Kiba shook his head and Shino ground his teeth. "I thought so. Why? It's as if those terms don't exist here, but they _must_ if the clans have an idea of them. I think we're in for a much deeper secret than we've anticipated."

"Yeah, you're telling me," Kiba snorted, but his eyes were seas of troubled waters. He reached into his pack and pulled out two colored photos: Namikaze Minato and Kushina. The Fourth Hokage and his wife. He placed them on the table side by side. "I talked to some of the genin we went to the Academy with and some of our teachers and a couple of vendors nearby. The genin said they only hate Naruto 'cause their parents hate him, no real reason, just prejudice passed down. Then I talked to everyone else, and guess what?"

Shino's glasses inched up as he reached to rub his eyes with both his hands. "What?"

"I'm mindin' my own business on my way here. We've been talkin' about Naruto all this time and as I'm lookin' through our old yearbooks to find some people to talk to, I can't help but look at Naruto's face. You see that for a couple of hours with the thought that he's got a secret and you start to realize some things, you know?" He took out their most recent yearbook, turned to the page with Naruto's most recent photo, and set it right beside the picture of the Fourth. "Like this. How come they look so much alike."

Shino was silent for five whole seconds before the thought Kiba was getting at dawned him. "You're not saying what I think you're saying. I _refuse_ to believe that."

Kiba leaned forward, his voice dropping down to a whisper as he forcefully pointed at the picture of Kushina. "Her maiden name was Uzumaki."

Shino suddenly stood. " _Motherfucker_."

While he dug through the piles of books with the expression of a mad man, Kiba shuffled towards the railing and took a quick look-around. The library was five stories high and he couldn't smell anyone else besides the receptionist and—oh. Sakura finally came. He made his way back to the corner to find Sakura standing with her arms crossed as she watched Shino clear the table to set down new books, papers, and photos.

"The Uzumaki were a clan that specialized in sealing and were revered for their skill, located almost exclusively in the Land of Whirlpools," he explained. "Some of the nations couldn't stand it. Why? Fear at what they could do. So, according to _A Brief History of the Land of Whirlpools_ , those nations banded together and Uzushiogakure was destroyed. Survivors spread all through the world and went into hiding." He held up another book, navy, bound in leather, and titled _A Biography of the Fourth Hokage: Namikaze Minato_. "If what Kiba's saying is true—"

Sakura raised her hand. "Which was?"

"Naruto's the son of the Fourth Hokage," Kiba filled in.

"Ah."

"—then there is a significant connection between the demise of the Uzumaki, Kushina-sama's involvement in Konoha, and Konoha's destruction nearly thirteen years ago that creates a cohesive timeline. Let me elaborate," Shino said. "In the biography it's noted that Namikaze-sama met his wife when they were both in the Academy as she was a transfer student from an undisclosed location. At the same time, as described in _A Political Overview Between Konohagakure and Uzushiogakure_ —" he help up another book, this time dulled red in color— "Uzushio, just before their ruin, sent a young girl to, and I quote, 'uphold the duty Uzumaki Mito had done for decades of her life'. It doesn't go into any more detail than that; I presume it has to do with whatever a jinchuuriki and the Kyuubi is."

Sakura raised a brow. "You don't know what those are?"

Shino set his hands on the table and leaned forward. " _You_ do?" he demanded. "Those terms were never discussed in Konoha's curriculum—"

"—but you weren't born in Konoha!" Kiba finished. "So you know, then?"

"My father was adamant I did, seeing how dangerous they can be," she replied. Her face grew more serious as they braced themselves. "Listen closely. The Kyuubi is one of nine tailed beasts, which are enormous entities of chakra that have similar likenings to animals. The Shibi has one tail and looks like a tanuki, the Nibi has two tails and looks like a cat, and so on and so forth. They're tens of meters taller than the average village, can't be destroyed, can't be harmed, but can be sealed into human prisons and die if that person's life force fades. Those people are called jinchuuriki. Villages always fight for the possession of one and are more than lucky if they have two."

Shino's eyes lit behind his glasses as he scrambled to find more books. Kiba, on the other hand, steadies himself into a seat and stared with wide eyes as she went on a quick rundown of the tailed beasts and their locations. "Ichibi: Suna, Nibi: Kumo, Sanbi: Kiri, Yonbi: Iwa, Gobi: Iwa, Rokubi: Kiri, Nanabi: Taki, Hachibi: Kumo, Kyuubi Konoha. If Uzumaki Mito and Uzumaki Kushina had been the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi and they're both dead, then where—" She cut herself off as a sudden realization hit her, and Shino came back to the conversation with even more books.

"Almost thirteen years ago, a massive attack was launched against Konoha, the perpetrator unnamed. Hundreds died, the Fourth and his wife included, and Sarutobi-sama reclaimed his title of Hokage," he said. Sakura lowered herself into the chair beside Kiba and stared at the ground with hard eyes. "It never mentioned a specific date, but based on construction logs, obituaries, and times of death listed around this period, I suspect the attack happened between October 9-12."

"Naruto's birthday is on October 10th," Sakura mentioned quietly. "And as I followed him in the last eight hours, there was a trend of people that called him 'Fox'. The same animal related to the Kyuubi."

The air was still just before Shino took a seat at the edge of the table and stared off into the space ahead of him, realization also taking hold of him. The three of them sat there for a while, staring at nothing, until Kiba decided to break the silence.

"You said tailed beasts get sealed into human prisons. Can... they weaken in childbirth?"

"Seals can weaken during any time the host life force is threatened," she informed. "Childbirth is one of those instances where it can happen."

"But to seal a chakra entity as big as a tailed beast—does a human have enough power to do it?" Shino asked.

"... Only if their life is sacrificed in return."

It went quiet again as the clock struck one in the morning. Kiba's fists clenched. "They saved the village by sealing the Kyuubi in their son, didn't they?"

"... Yeah."

A beat.

"He doesn't deserve this shit. It's not his fault."

Another beat.

Shino looked down. "He doesn't know, does he? About this. Any part of this."

A couple more wayward, sinking beats.

"And we can't tell him," Sakura added.

Papers covered the table and books littered the floor around their feet. Caps were separated from their markers and some of lethargy had leaked into their bones. It's the next day, a new morning, a new start, but it felt as if they were stuck. They don't know how to describe it, but Kiba perfectly expressed the feeling of the atmosphere of the air they're supposed to breathe with two simple words.

"This _sucks_."


	18. An Unsettling Feeling

_**It wasn't a secret. Or at least, it wasn't supposed to be.**_

::

 _When people look through Academy students' files to assign them to teams or scrutinize their abilities, they base them off superficial judgments without looking deeper than the surface. Why would they dig? We're barely considered genin._

The fact that they had found out so quickly didn't hit Kurenai in the gut until after Wednesday's practice and after she had to witness their solemn faces. She expected them to figure it out, of course, but maybe it would've taken them a week or two and they would've only scratched the surface.

Two weeks and an idea. Not _two days and the whole story_.

It scared her that every single one of her expectations had been surpassed. And even if they were so caught up in their research that they didn't notice she'd been watching them the whole time, she couldn't bring herself to call them out on it. Not with what they now knew.

 _And with being barely genin, we're still widely regarded as children, save for the occasional prodigy. As children, we're expected to do the best we can in those six years because we want to be the fastest, the strongest, the smartest, the best. We're expected to do the best so we're assigned the correct teacher and teammates to hone in the skill set that we're expected to uptake._

 _But as children, we're not expected to think about fundamentals, so no one really cares that they're being watched, and because I'm not expected to understand this much of the system, I can very well work against it as much as I've been allowed._

Shino had taken a small idea and expanded it through sheer fact. He became an expert on the Senju and the Uzumaki with only what the public library and his father had to offer; comparing skill sets, genetic traits, mapping bloodlines, and making sense of a hundred different voices trying to say the same thing. He found loose threads and tied them together. Threads became knots, knots became ropes, ropes became webs of statistics and walls and knowledge.

He wanted to know something, so he found it out.

Kiba had a silver tongue, she learned, and played the card of a fool like an ace up his sleeve. People talked to him like he was stupid so they never took care of what they spoke, but as soon as they finished he walked away with what he wanted and them never knowing they gave it to him in the first place. He saw Minato's face in Naruto's and Naruto's in Minato's and filched Kushina maiden name off an old vendor whose memory made her forget current laws and remember the little redheaded girl that passed her stall over twenty years ago.

Being oblivious was his cover, seeking was his trade.

Sakura became a shadow for a full eight hours, never speaking or moving when her cover didn't call for it. She didn't eat or drink in that time and became familiar with each and every one of Naruto's tells from the slight rising of his shoulders when someone looked at him or how he forcefully added a spring in his step to keep up the appearance of a happy-go-lucky kid. What Sakura saw Kurenai saw, and what they'd seen they didn't like.

Sakura was like a killer in the mist, silent and undetected.

 _Knowledge is a very dangerous thing, sensei. I know I'm here to fulfill my duty under the Hokage, but if I'm unable to do so without being kept in a spotlight, then that's where the true shinobi lies, isn't it?_

But what _was_ a shinobi's duty? Because genin were not supposed to be this smart, this accurate, this passionate for the truth. She had been there when they placed everything together in that library, close to being caught if Kiba had been paying more attention as he went to the railing to peer around, and watched with slowly growing horror as each piece of the puzzle they slotted together rose to a bigger picture. She'd left shortly after Sakura explained the different tailed beasts and their current locations—information she certainly shouldn't have been in possession of—and went home to sit and think.

This was becoming more dangerous than she first thought.

...

What was going to happen if they sought something that could get them killed?

Kurenai curled in on herself and looked out the window, her stomach churning with an indiscernible feeling.

What was going to happen if one day, they went too far?

::

 _ **Something like that couldn't stay hidden. Chakra in the shape of a fox destroying a village and being sealed the same night while leaving behind a body count as high as a month in war and as much damage as if a tsunami hit a small island couldn't be erased. There were records, statements, magazine articles, obituaries, construction orders, chapters in history books.**_

::

"The Chuunin Exams are coming up in a couple of months," Itachi said. He and his partner were somewhere in the midst of Grass Country on a long term reconnaissance mission. "Have you considered attending?"

Kisame inspected some of the sticks lying on the ground and picked one up, gauging whether or not it would be too damp to be used as firewood. Not that it really mattered with Itachi's fancy-schmancy fire jutsu. "It's in Konoha, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then I won't go."

Itachi knew why he himself couldn't attend—the crime he'd committed was still too fresh and any unnecessary appearance would cause too much of a scene, the opposite of what he'd want. Kisame, though, he couldn't figure a reason. "And why is that?"

Kisame tossed the sticks aside and picked up a couple more. "The last time I saw Sakura was when Konoha shinobi compromised my location."

... Ah.

The thing was, Itachi had seen his partner out on the field more than enough to know why he was called the 'Tail-less Tailed Beast'. He battled like a true monster and killed with no remorse, living for the fight and fighting because he wanted, not because he needed. Bloodlust was like a second skin to him and victory was only an added bonus.

Kisame didn't know the meaning of fault, yet the one thing he couldn't triumph was the feeling that he'd failed his daughter.

"I'm surprised Leader-sama hasn't assigned anyone to monitor them," Itachi said. He watches as Kisame piles the sticks together. "Especially with the rumors surrounding this one."

"Leader-sama doesn't really care about the Chuunin Exams. Chuunin ain't a threat and those exams are more of a peace show than anything. Not much for us there, you know."

"Not even if those rumors concern Orochimaru?"

Broad shoulders stilled. "If Orochimaru doesn't interfere with our plans directly, he's not our problem," replied Kisame. There was a slight pause as his fingers twitched. "... but is that right? He's gonna be at the exams?"

Itachi tilted his head curiously at the sudden change in demeanor. "I've not heard any conflicting information otherwise. Do you have some qualm with him?"

"Not directly, but..." A troubled look crossed Kisame's face, half indecisive, half upset. "Change of plans, Itachi-san. Don't expect to see me 'round exam time."

"You said you have no problem with Orochimaru," he said, an eyebrow raising along with his inquiry.

"I don't." Kisame was determined now and his hand itched to grab hold of Samehada. "But I'm going to make sure he doesn't butt his head in business that isn't his."

::

 _ **It wasn't supposed to be a secret.**_

::

Thursday practice was a weapons day and the feeling in Kurenai's stomach had yet to settle. She greeted her students with a chipper smile, as always, and set them up with different types of targets to work on and to rotate through. She had to keep up at least a semblance of a bright appearance because she didn't want to worry them.

They were her students after all, and no matter what they did, they always would be.

The first station she set up was for throwing projectiles at a straw man target to test for precision and accuracy. One target, a relatively short distance. It was the simpler of the stations and gave Kurenai a general idea of their stance and positioning. Kiba left himself a little too open and a little too eager and fired with too much force, his shuriken landing around the center but his touch of wildness throwing off his precision. Nothing a little more practice and calm preparation couldn't fix.

The second station was for throwing projectiles at various targets placed at different heights in different trees. It was a station used more for distance throwing, and all Kurenai hoped was for her students to at least hit within the designated rings. Shino, she found, not only had some trouble getting his kunai and shuriken to land on the farther targets but that he was incredibly nearsighted. She asked him if he could set up an appointment with an optometrist. He replied that if he remembered, he'd let his father know.

The third station was for throwing projectiles at appearing targets. Certain straw men popped up at different locations with a target on either the head, chest, or knees. It tested reaction times with accuracy and Kurenai wanted them to get a feel of what it would be like to aim at real life targets, because if they weren't too good now, they would be great later.

Sakura was assigned to that one.

Kurenai stood in the distance, fingers tapping at her chin and red eyes darting from her student to their surroundings almost anxiously. Her stomach dropped as Sakura started her routine; she selected a few kunai from her pouch, poised them before her in a fluid grace, and cycled through the straw men like water.

She'd done this before. She'd tried to perfect it before.

Not all her kunai hit dead center, but they all landed in the red middle circle.

Sakura wasn't holding back anymore and it showed, and Kurenai wondered how she'd never seen it before. The more she looked, the more she noticed the small things.

Like how her hands were callused with years of wear and her limbs, while not layered with astounding muscles, were still there and still built up from who knows what she'd done. But even if her physical attributes didn't quite catch someone's attention, her mind certainly had. She wasn't like her teammates and she wasn't the smartest person she'd ever met, but she had intelligence. Practicality. Logic.

Sure, Sakura wasn't some prodigy like Hatake Kakashi.

But she was more than enough.

Kurenai moved to commend the girl on her skills, but slowed slightly as Sakura strode to each target and ripped out each of her kunai. "You've—"

"I'll do better next time," Sakura interrupted. Her brows furrowed and her teeth clenched together in visible disappointment as she stuffed each and every one of her weapons back into her pouch.

"Better? You did beautifully. All of your kunai landed in the center."

"I could've done _more_." Murky green eyes were full of discontent and frustration, so much of it from a simple matter of perfection. "I've been doing this for years. There's no reason why I shouldn't have had it by now."

Kurenai crossed her arms loosely over her middle. So she was right. The skill had come from years in the making. "And even if it takes years more, you shouldn't worry too much," she tried earnestly. Each and every word she meant, but she didn't like the defiant look culminating on her student's face. "Being a shinobi isn't all that we are. Remember when I said that?"

"But I'll never _be_ anything if I'm not a shinobi," Sakura insisted. The defiant look receded until there was nothing more than honesty. Kurenai took a mental step backwards as she stared at her with wide, sympathetic eyes.

The first question that came to mind: Why does she think that?

The second question that came to mind: _Who_ told her to think that?

She looked over her shoulder and saw Kiba and Shino stopped in their tracks and looking in their direction. They immediately turned back to their stations at her glance and acted like they hadn't been caught in the first place.

When she turned back, Sakura was back to plucking kunai from straw men and she couldn't help but let out a small sigh as her shoulders dropped.

Kurenai would persist and things would change. She was sure of it.

::

 _ **But because an old man wanted to protect a little boy from a life of hate, he kept it quiet, unspoken of; a taboo.**_

::

Sakura walked back to her apartment that evening, alone with blood and more calluses caking the tips of her fingers to the bottom of her palms. She promised Kiba and Shino she'd be able to take care of it herself—she wasn't going to tell them, but the Inuzuka nose picked up on the blood way before she did—before they went their separate ways as the sun slipped down from the horizon and covered the town in darkness.

Her anger during practice surprised her; it had been so long since she wanted to punch something until it broke. The last time it happened, actually, had been back in the days when she trained with Papa and he had to carry her back home when she tired herself out to the point where she could no longer move.

She flexed her dirtied fingers as she climbed up the steps to her apartment. Slipping the pack off her shoulders to pluck her keys from the front pocket, she spotted her neighbor fiddling with his own keys... that were attached to a ridiculously large frog keychain?

Naruto looked up and greeted her with a blinding smile. "Sakura-chan!"

... -chan?

She slung her pack back over her shoulder as he trotted over to her. "Didja just get back from training?"

"We went on a little longer than expected," Sakura shrugged, waving her hand nonchalantly. "What about you?"

She was prepared to hear him go on and on about his day, but she watched his smile slowly drop off his face as he reached for her wrist and, with surprising gentleness, brought it closer to his face. His expression immediately exploded into worry. "Sakura-chan, you're bleeding!"

"It's not—hey!"

She surged forward as Naruto pulled her towards his apartment. In his panic he doesn't fumble with his keys and he pushed the door open and hurried toward his kitchen. It was the same cramped layout as her own but much messier with dishes piled in the sink, clothes on the chairs, weapons in the corner, and several other things like scrolls and bandages and sharpening tools cast across the ground.

He gently ushered her onto the only clear seat in the kitchen, fear in his face. "What do I—What do I do?! Do we just wash it or get—get—get—"

"Rubbing alcohol and cotton balls," she informed him, an exasperated smile reluctantly reaching her lips. "Rags or something like a small towel is fine if you don't have the cotton balls."

He nodded once before rushing off to find his first-aid kit, probably. She almost laughed when he ran back and nearly nailed himself in the doorway while hugging a white box close to his chest. He went over like he hadn't been hindered in the first place and plopped onto the floor right in front of her.

"How come you didn't get help or somethin'?" he questioned sternly. Naruto popped open the box and pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a handful of cotton balls. "You're bleeding and you shoulda been fast 'bout it!" He soaked one of the cottons a little too thoroughly and took one of her hands. In the light they looked worse than what he'd seen outside and he dabbed at them gingerly. "How did it—Sakura-chan, does it hurt when I do that?"

Sakura observed him thoughtfully, feeling the same feeling when Kiba first got her that anmitsu for her birthday. "It's fine."

Doubt clouded his eyes and his bottom lip jut out in a pout. "O-Okay."

As she outstretched her hands and he took great care in fixing up her cuts and sores, his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth in deep concentration, she took the time to regard the crown of his head. Uzumaki Naruto helped her without asking while being far more worried than she ever would be, and it made her wonder how an entire village could hate a boy who did nothing wrong but be born at the wrong place at the wrong time.

In fact, how could someone dubbed a "benevolent" Hokage allow something like that to happen?

"There!" he exclaimed, snapping her out of her reverie. "All better, 'ttebayo!"

Sakura's lips quirked as he slathered her hands in ointment and did his best at wrapping both her hands in gauze and tape. It's not a good job at any stretch of the imagination and she was sure she was going to have to re-wrap them later, but his effort was hard not to appreciate.

"I was going to make dinner, but it looks like I'm going to have some trouble with my hands like this," she mentioned, wiggling her fingers. "Do you want to help? We can even make something that you like."

Naruto blinked. It took him a few seconds to figure that his first real friend just asked him over for dinner, and when it finally sunk in, he shot up to his feet with such force that the nearby table shook. His eyes shone like he'd been offered the world and he reached out to bring Sakura up to her feet too. "Let's make ramen!"

She snorted. "Ramen it is."

They went next door to her apartment, Naruto absolutely filled with joy and absolutely unaware of the stream of questions slowly forming in Sakura's head that would soon lead to learning about something far, far worse than the Kyuubi.

::

 _ **That little boy was supposed to be a hero.**_

::

Shibi didn't see the need to lie to his child about real inquiries he'd have about the village or the clan or the simple workings of everyday life. Shino would take over the clan one day, and when he did, he would be privy to all the information he currently held. That meant clan secrets, village secrets, politics of both the well-meaning and the questionable kind.

So when the Aburame Clan meeting was held and Shino took his customary seat by his side, he didn't pay attention at the way Shino listened to others speak. Of course his boy would be attentive. When was he not? But there was something different then that neither he nor the rest of the clan picked up on. And after the meeting, Shibi didn't question it when Shino excused himself to return to his room for the night and chalked it up to him being tired from training and clan politics, so he didn't find out that Shino had pulled out a small journal to write down one specific thing he'd heard at the meeting.

 _Possible Threats on Watch: Uchiha Itachi, Orochimaru_

In the end, he never knew his son would underline those two names and tuck the journal in his coat to make sure he reminded his team the next day.

Perhaps if he'd noticed, and he'd explained, the future would have unfolded in a different direction.

::

 _ **Yet the old man had damned him—and everyone else—all the same, because humans weren't humans if they didn't make the wrong choices.**_

::

Shino and Kiba found themselves once again the first ones at their meeting point on Friday. They waited in front of the Aquatic Center with their swimsuits on beneath their clothes as Akamaru padded up between them and let out a series of definitive barks.

Shino looked up to his friend for clarification and Kiba sighed. "He's been worried about Sakura since her conversation with Kurenai-sensei yesterday. And I mean, what she said doesn't really sound right. You think she's okay?"

"She's..." Shino trailed off. He pursed his lips. "She's said what her father is. Do you think he'd tell her something like that?"

"She told us that he didn't want his life to be hers, so I don't think so," he replied. "But—you know her ear?" The Aburame nodded. It wasn't like she ever tried to hide it. "I asked about it once and she said it was 'cause one of the people who babysat her didn't care enough to watch her or something like that. It's hella messed up."

It would be. Shino couldn't imagine growing up with a missing-nin was a particularly bright experience.

He sighed and shook his head. "We'll inquire about it later. Why? It's the only way we'll get real answers from her." He reached into the inside of his coat and pulled out a small journal. "The Aburame had a meeting last night that discussed some particulars of the upcoming exams. We'll be slotted as a defensive platoon if called upon, like always, but they said to watch out for two named rogues: Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru." Sakura approached them from one end of the street with a pair of black pants and her one-piece swimsuit acting as her shirt. He nodded at her. "Are those names familiar to you?"

"I can give you a quick biography for each of them once we're in a controlled location," she said, a frown touching the edge of her mouth. "Not people to mess with, though. Both S-Class, highly dangerous, in the Top 50 Shinobi in the Bingo Book." A strange light then flitted over her eyes. The others caught it and leaned closer. "Now that I think about it, we should..."

She stopped and her frown deepened. Sakura shot a look over her shoulder and towards the high branches, but saw not one thing out of place. No odd color, no movement, no waves.

Kiba nudged her. "Sakura?"

"I thought someone was there," she mumbled warily, turning back to her team. "Are you guys free after practice today?"

"We end at two on Fridays," said Shino. "Much earlier than our usual days. I haven't made any prior appointments, so I'll be able to attend."

Kiba grinned. "And you know me and Akamaru don't got much going on, so we're all good. What's up?"

"We're going to have a follow up on those tests you took," she informed. In a quieter tone, she added, "and maybe that thing we had going about Naruto had more to it than what we came up with."

Shino pushed up his glasses to rub his eyes, Kiba roughly tousled his own hair with both hands, and Akamaru whined and lay flat on the ground to cover the top of his head with both paws. Kiba nearly tore his hair out. "What else is there? There's nothing else for us to find!" he whisper-yelled.

"What about the person who let it happen?"

"That's treason," Shino muttered. He pulled his hand away from his face and released a long-suffering, resigned sigh. "Then again, we already technically broke the law. So what more?"

"Guys, we're gonna get our asses killed before we're chuunin," Kiba groaned.

A few more minutes passed until Kurenai appeared with her usual smile and guided them into the facility five minutes on the dot before six in the morning. With one hand on her shoulder, Sakura threw one last glimpse at the trees above before trailing into the building for a grueling swim session.

And up in those trees, someone gave a watery smile and braced the large sword against his back as he disappeared.

::

 _ **But if wrong choices counted for humanity, the old man would've been the most human of them all.**_


	19. Absolute Truth

Kisame almost cried when he spotted pink hair and a smile from his perch in one of Konoha's many trees. Her hair was still long and she had actual friends who looked genuine, like they really cared. Then she looked over her shoulder suddenly and stared towards his general area. And when he saw her heart-shaped face and the confused tint to her green eyes, he couldn't stop the few stray tears that dripped down his cheeks.

Sakura turned back to her friends and they lowered their voices a bit more. She'd gotten far better at sensing since the genjutsu incident and he could feel the bubble of pride swelling in his chest. Five years. She shouldn't have had to raise herself all that time.

Tearing his gaze away from his pup, he scrutinized the two (or three, really) in her company. The two red triangles on one of the boys' cheeks was a dead ringer for the Inuzuka Clan, and if that didn't cement the fact, the puppy beside him certainly did. The other boy's face he couldn't see with it shrouded in a high collar and a pair of dark glasses. Kisame lost the name at the moment, but he was sure he was from that one noble clan that controlled insects.

Then the genin sensei arrived. Yuuhi Kurenai—he'd heard about her before from Itachi. Good in genjutsu, speed, and intelligence, and not a bad fit to his pup's capabilities. Or at least what her capabilities used to be. He wouldn't blame her if she changed her style or found a new one; it had been so long and he was excited to see all the new things she learned.

As the four of them walked into the Aquatic Center, he took it as his cue to leave.

He reappeared just outside his pup's apartment.

::

A hand shot up from the water and grasped the edge of the pool, a head following and a torso flopping onto the ridged flooring. Kiba swiped his goggles off and tossed them off to who-knows-where as he gulped for air. "If I die this year, I want to be cremated," he gasped. Akamaru floated by on a paddleboard, soaking wet and already half asleep. "Build a new Aquatic Center in my name and spread my ashes around it. Then don't put any water in the building."

There were a few splashes behind him as another hand emerged to his left and another body set itself on the ledge. Sakura slapped her goggles down in front of her and reached up to pull off her swim cap, braided pink hair dropping back into the water. "Then why," she breathed, "would you want an Aquatic Center to be built?"

"Our of pure _spite_."

A third pair of hands reached Kiba's right and Shino pulled himself completely out of the pool in one swift movement, but rolled onto the ground shoulder first and flopped onto his back as he drew in air. His swim cap he shucks off and throws to the side but his goggles, though, he keeps on in the absence of his glasses. "I didn't consider the possibility of something being worse than the obstacle course. This is an instance where being proven wrong does not end in an enlightening experience."

Kiba made a face. "You like to be proved wrong?"

"It builds character."

Kurenai walked up to them and crouched down, the whistle around her neck swaying slightly. "If you guys keep this up, maybe I'll reconsider entering you at one of the meets they host here," she joked. She laughed as Kiba let himself sink back into the water. "But honestly, you three have done a fantastic job. Training is done for the day and you can all go home—but if you choose to stay in the pool a bit longer, that's fine too." She reached into the pool and gently plucked Akamaru from the board and set him down gently, giving his head a few pats after she does so. He barked and lolled his tongue out.

"Chlorine sucks," Kiba muttered. He finally hauled himself from the pool and, just as Shino had done, completely flopped onto the ground.

Kurenai lended them a sympathetic smile. "We have two missions tomorrow and the first one doesn't start until eleven so you can all sleep in."

"Yes, sensei," they chorused tiredly. She bid each of them a goodbye and a reminder to eat a good breakfast tomorrow before taking her leave. Left with the sounds of kids splashing in the next few lanes over, Sakura lazily set her chin in her palm. "So," she started. Her legs dangled freely in the water. "We cooking or getting take out?"

The answer was unanimous. "Take out."

Akamaru woofed in agreement.

::

Kisame took in the shabby apartment and was hit with a wave of nostalgia. It's like the first shitty apartment he got for himself in Ame where he met Saki and she gifted him those god-awful white chocolate chip cookies. The traps set up around the unit made him quirk a smile at her caution, but he wondered why the trip wires, sensors, and weapon launchers also extended to her next door neighbor. Were they friends too?

But traps like those weren't enough to keep out someone like him, so he slipped through the kitchen window and surveyed the area. The kitchen was clean, there weren't any dishes in the sink, and the fridge had no magnets or post-it notes. He frowned as he squeezed down the narrow hallway towards the bedroom. There were no stray marks and no pictures, and by the time he pushed open the old wooden door, a thread of sadness wound around the veins on his heart.

White walls were bare and navy sheets were made. There were still no pictures, no dust, but four handwritten scrolls hung on the wall just behind her bed.

 _"Remember what you witnessed here. This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world."_

 _"Did you understand that, girl? You're_ their _homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?"_

 _"Because I'm not a good man."_

 _"You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all."_

"Pup..." he sighed. Kisame ran a hand over his face and turned away. He recognized one of those phrases to be his, probably, and deep down he _knew_ that he could've prevented this. If he was there, she wouldn't have to live by those words and he could've raised her not to listen to people like the Akatsuki.

Which was hypocritical on his part, but she didn't have to listen to him anymore. How could she? He'd abandoned her and he wouldn't blame her if she hated him.

That thought alone made his eyes water again and he forced his attention on the small wooden desk right beside the bed.

There were... odd books and scrolls separated into neat piles. Titles like _Hiruzen Sarutobi: Twice a Hokage_ and _A Biography of the Fourth Hokage: Namikaze Minato_ and _Rogues LXI: Orochimaru_ and _Sannin from War_ met his speculating gaze. There were no notes, but as he thumbed through the marked pages he sees tabs by things concerning the Third Hokage's political decisions, his relationship with his students, and his choosing of his successor.

None of it made sense, and it made concern sprout in his blood. What sort of... research was she getting at with something like this? Was it authorized?

(Like he was the paragon of lawful work, but that wasn't the point.)

Kisame glanced down the hallway, back at the desk, then set the book down and worked his fingers through a series of hand seals. Strings of chakra erupted on the desk as a film of water covered a small 6 inch by 6 inch square. A pale catshark popped its head out in greeting with its reddish-white skin and the top half of its 8 inch length. She wasn't the smallest shark he could've summoned, but she was the smallest, non-bio-luminescent species that came off the top of his head.

"Kasumi-san," he greeted. She tipped her head in return and looked around the small bedroom.

"These aren't your quarters, Blue. Did you finally decide to move?"

"You know I can't. Too many memories."

She huffed, bobbed down below the water, and came back up. "You were always a sentimental one. So? Is there something you need? I'm not the one you normally summon."

He did have a penchant for great whites.

"My pup's here—"

"Alive?"

"—she never died. I made sure of it."

"To keep her from Ring-Eyes?"

"You know me," he grinned, though she could tell it was far from a happy one. "But I just came up here to scout for a bit for the Chuunin Exams. There's research here I'm not too sure about and I need you to listen in. If it ain't serious, no need to tell me. If it can kill her, let me know."

Kasumi hummed to herself and did a small flip in the chakra-made puddle. "Of course," she said. "Any particulars I need to be aware of?"

"One's an Inuzuka tracker and the other's a bug sensor. Er, a sensor that uses bugs to locate chakra," he informed. She chuckled.

"Trying to make it challenging for me, aren't ya, Blue?"

Kisame glanced at the door once more before offering the shark a sharp array of white teeth. "Gotta keep you on your fins, don't I? Let me know if anything's up."

"Summons are always covert, Blue," she reminded him. "I'll make sure Pink's safe and sound, just like you did."

::

Sakura, Kiba, and Shino trailed into the apartment with towels draped across their shoulders and their clothes damp from throwing them over themselves after taking quick showers at the facility. Bags of takeout hung from their hands and they set it on the table as they sat around on the plastic chairs.

The scent of chlorine still overwhelmed them.

Kiba opened his mouth, the mix of exhaustion from swimming and incredulity from Sakura's earlier words left little for him to be reluctant about. "So are we gonna go from the rogue thing to the Naruto thing to the things that's gonna get us murdered?"

A surge of insects evacuated Shino's body and took to position themselves around the kitchen and over the windows, prompting Sakura to lean over and switch on the light. "Sounds about right," he says. "Sakura? You said you knew about Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru?"

She nodded. "Uchiha Itachi. Male. 5'7". Missing-nin. Crimes: High Treason, Mass Slaughter, Murder, Arson, and Espionage, just to generalize a few. Former Affiliation: Konohagakure. Current Affiliation: A—" she faltered. Akatsuki was only a speculation, but now wasn't the time to share it with her team. She didn't know if she was ready for _that_ explanation anytime soon. "—Unknown. Rank: S. Specialties: Genjutsu, Assassination, Intelligence. Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan. Bounty: 200 million ryo. That's the cap for those in the Top Twenty, excluding jinchuriki. They cap at 500 million."

Kiba whistled a low note. That was a _shit ton_ of money.

Shino, though, hummed quietly. Two-hundred million is certainly a ridiculous number, especially considering that was the payout for undergoing two-hundred S-rank missions: a practically inconceivable number since he was sure there wasn't a single person who could complete that amount of S-ranks in their entire shinobi career. "Top Twenty?" he asked. "Is this from some sort of book or documentation on rogues?"

"Any base intel I have on rogues comes from the Bingo Book. It's an international hit list, basically. Next time I scout for an updated version, I'll give you guys copies."

Kiba lightly knocked Shino's shoulder with the back of his hand. "Sakura's got this wicked memory thing goin' on too. Give her anything and she won't forget."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Photographic memory?"

"I guess. Never really looked into it, but if it helps, it helps," she shrugged. Kiba sniffed and scratched the back of his head.

"So about this Orochimaru guy; is he worse than Uchiha Itachi?"

"Orochimaru. Male. 5'6". Missing-nin. Crimes: High Treason, Illegal Experimentation, Kidnapping, Murder, Espionage, Theft. Former Affiliation: Konohagakure. Current Affiliation: Unknown. Rank: S. Specialties: Chakra Absorption, Genjutsu, Intelligence, Ninjutsu. Bounty: 200 million ryo."

" _Illegal experimentation?_ " Kiba repeated.

"He's not... great," Sakura mentioned slowly. She remembered him clearly from her time in the Akatsuki, and even if her father kept her far from him as much as possible, his first impression set the precedent of how much she decided she'd never associate with a psychopath like him. "But he used to be one of the Hokage's students."

A settling silence washed over them as they finally started eating their takeout. Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru were now committed to mind, but that wasn't what they gathered for. Sakura took a sip of her water. "I was talking to Naruto yesterday when something occurred to me: talking about the Kyuubi is outlawed and Naruto's surname had been changed from his father's to his mother's to try and cover up their relation. Consideration had been put into this and it made me think, why would the Hokage go through such lengths to keep it a secret? Does that mean there are other questionable things he's done where he made an active decision to _not_ act in the public's best interest?"

"The government hides things from us all the time," said Shino.

Kiba's face scrunched up. "But if he's working outside that stuff, doesn't that make it illegal? Even Kages can't be excluded from that."

Gradually, Shino's face dropped into acceptance as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Sakura, what do you have on Hokage-sama so far?"

"Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped down as Hokage despite his village's protest the first time he's given the title. It's right after he signs a treaty with Iwagakure to end the war and no one but one person on his council opposed it, according to _Hiruzen Sarutobi: Twice a Hokage_. There are three people in the council and the opposition was clearly outnumbered, but why would he decide to listen to that one person? Why was that important?" She'd read six different texts cover to cover prior and was less than content to find them lacking in detail. "I couldn't find anything else on the subject so I started focusing on his earlier biography. He displayed prodigious talent from the beginning that earned him training from the First Hokage. I looked up five of his early teammates and they included: Uchiha Kagami, Akimichi Torifu, Utatane Koharu, Homura Mitokado, and Shimura Danzo."

It didn't escape Shino's noticed that she referred to their leader as 'The Hokage' instead of 'Hokage-sama'.

"All information on the Uchiha has been redacted, Akimichi became a powerful shinobi renowned for his physical strength and lives as counsel for his clan, and Utatane, Mitokado, and Shimura make up the Hokage's council. Moving on from the Hokage, I came across ample information about Orochimaru. In _Sannin from War_ , it details the Second Shinobi World War where he, Jiraiya the Toad Sage, and Tsunade the Slug Princess, were given the moniker after impressing Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure at the time," she explained. Amegakure history came like second nature with how much time her father invested in her childhood education.

Once, she asked why he was so persistent. He replied that no one cared enough when he was her age, so he wanted to make sure the same thing never happened to her.

"In _Rogues LXI: Orochimaru_ and _A Coming of Age Story, Orochimaru and His Downfall_ , he was described as a sort of twisted genius who experimented on humans and even had a mass kidnapping over an estimated sixty children and a handful of his fellow Konoha shinobi. These kidnappings happened immediately after Namikaze Minato becomes Hokage. Was there correlation? Causation? It looked like those two events occurring within spitting distance of each other might have some background to it, especially since Orochimaru's endgame was immortality."

Kiba scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Immortality. Who wants to live forever anyways? It's a kinda stupid reason to become a missing-nin if you ask me."

"The Akimichi is another noble clan," Shino said, tapping the bottom of his lip. "I can speak to Chouji to see if Torifu-san is available to interview for a 'project' I've been given, and I'll be able to receive a first hand account of who Hokage-sama's teammates were."

"I'll try to talk to people again to see what they know," said Kiba. "Akamaru and I are gonna poke around to find what we can. But like, what exactly are we looking for? Evidence of... him not doing his job? I know we're also doing this for Naruto because Hokage-sama allowed that shit to happen to him, but the other stuff...?"

"Whatever you can find like inconsistencies, cover-ups, or others of the same like," Sakura answered. "I'll keep up with the research I've been going with now and we'll meet up... Sunday? Since we have two missions tomorrow. And then we'll find out what we've all learned."

Kiba nodded and held up his fist towards the middle of the group and this time, there was no hesitation when two other fists met his.

From inside one of the cabinets, a small shark silently listened in. _'Oh, Pink,'_ she thought with a sigh. _'You're a Hoshigaki through and through, alright.'_

::

"You tellin' the truth?" Kisame questioned, astounded. Everything his summon relayed to him sounded like it was from one of those detective movies all the way from the suspicion of a higher authority to the research she was putting herself through just to find out the truth. The truth about what, he didn't quite know yet, but it's a truth nonetheless. He didn't have a single clue who she was putting her life on the line for, but if he had to hazard a guess, it would be for the betterment of people like those kidnapped kids she mentioned.

"Would I lie to you?" Kasumi's teasing tone seeped away as something more concerning took its place. "Blue, if she gets caught, she'll be tried for treason. Her _and_ her team."

"Yeah, I'm surprised Pup's got enough charisma to get those other kids to listen to her."

"There's no charisma. Sitting around that table, they're equals. You should be more surprised that she found others that accepted her for who she is and stuck around knowing what she can do."

"I am surprised. And I'm glad," he admitted. "She never had friends her age in Ame and if I could thank those two myself, I would. She's not alone."

Kasumi watched her summoner's face as his eyebrows bunched together in deep thought. "Are you going to try to stop Pink from pursuing this path, knowing there's a chance that she'll be caught and killed?"

He frowned. "No."

" _No?_ "

"It's important to her, isn't it?" he said. At her incredulous stare, he sighed. "You've known me for a long time, Kasumi-san, and you know I left Kiri after I found out information was being leaked out of the village by that Fuguki bastard. I left a traitor when it should've been him instead. If I woulda known someone like Pup was working their ass off for strangers to put guys like Fuguki to justice just 'cause it was the right thing, I woulda been thankful. Hell, I woulda cheered them on. How many other shinobi have a moral compass strong enough to do what they're doing? _I_ definitely don't. And I raised her for seven years."

The sun burned bright, and Kisame exhaled through his nose and visibly sagged. "They're doing a lotta people a world of good down there. Pup's got a smart head on her shoulders, so who am I to stop her? She thinks she's right. I think she's right. I'm sure you do too somewhere. So I'll just hang back and make sure she's okay and help her in any way I can."

Kasumi searched the profile of his face—the profile of a soldier born in blood and raised to kill. "You're a good man, Blue."

He laughed wetly and pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes. "Pup told me that once when she was still learning how to talk," he said. He sniffed once and hoisted himself to his feet. "But good men don't do what I do."

Kisame disappeared from his spot in the shadow of a ventilation box atop a building, leaving her to stare sadly at the spot where he once was. "And bad men don't do what you do, either. So what does that make you?"

::

Danzo smiled, dark and uncomfortable. It never occurred to him that someone would be so curious over a buried hatchet and he wondered—truly—what would three rookie genin figure out on a subject that seemed like it was chosen after being written down as a joke and drawn from a hat at random?

Something like this had never happened before. So, he made a decision he'd never done before.

He waved off his operatives, told them to ignore those genin, sat back, and watched.

::

After undergoing two missions and sitting at her plastic table surrounded by tea and books, Sakura realized that Orochimaru had been caught _red-handed_ just before he defected from Konoha. Nothing was detailed about who caught him or how he got away and she felt as though that particular element was key to a narrative like Orochimaru's. _Who_ let him get away?

Perhaps... they were never mentioned to preserve their identity? No, it still should've been mentioned due to the document-like nature of the texts she was reading. Whoever let him get away couldn't really be blamed anyway considering how he had so much power that his notoriety had immediately been built the minute he decided he no longer wanted to serve the village.

"Unless it was someone high-profile..." she murmured. A shiver ran up her spine and she whipped around her seat towards the kitchen window, kunai in hand and braced in front of her in defense. There was nothing but the color of a sun-dusted day.

Sakura stared at the window for a few seconds longer until changing her seat into one where her back was to the fridge with one side of her facing that window and the other facing the hallway.

No matter what she did, the feeling of being watched didn't go away.

::

"O-Oh, you want to ask Grand-Uncle Torifu about the First War? Sure, he really likes talking about it!" Chouji exclaimed as he shoved some potato chips into his mouth. "Uh, what did you say it was for?"

"I was given a project to learn about the wars that shaped this village. Why? To understand our order of living better," Shino lied smoothly. He'd always been a decent liar especially with those the same age as him, and he knew just by looking at his old classmate's eyes that there was zero suspicion whatsoever. "I asked if there was anyone that starred prominently in the war that still lived to this day and Torifu-san had been suggested. I've heard of his achievement."

"I don't think he's doing anything today—are you okay with seeing him now?" Chouji asked. Shino nodded and allowed himself to be led through the Akimichi Compound. It was a place he'd been to dozens of times for meetings he and Chouji had been forced to sit through due to their status as main house heirs and this particular one always seemed to have a different feel than the other nobles. While the Aburame Compound—painted in all sorts of gray—felt chilling but never quite empty, the Akimichi managed to emit a homey essence and always smelled of the day's meals.

He was brought to one of the larger houses on the land and lead into the sitting room where someone sat with a tray of tea at his side.

Akimichi Torifu was a large, portly man akin to the rest of his clan with bright red cheeks, wild white hair, and heavy body armor plating the entirety of his torso. There was a particularly jolly sense to him and a world of experience behind his smiling eyes, leading Shino to be acutely aware of the insects shifting around in his body.

"Chouji!" Torifu boomed. "You brought a friend, have you?!"

The room shook with every syllable and it rattled Shino's brain within the confines of his skull.

What did he get himself into?

"This is Aburame Shino and he wants to know about the First War for a project," Chouji introduced. Torifu's stare immediately blazed in excitement, prompting Shino to resist the urge to take a couple steps backwards.

" _Wonderful!_ " he shouted. "Sit, sit! I have many stories to tell!"

The only non-Akimichi member currently in the compound inwardly cringed. He already wanted to leave.

::

Kiba threw another magazine over his shoulder and into the 'trash' pile, a pout clear on his lips and disgruntlement settling nicely in his bones. When he came back from his mission his mom had just been in the process of stepping out of the house for hers; she firmly instructed him to clean out the small closet in the house filled to the brim with magazines from gossip columns to weapon orders before he could do anything else for the rest of the day. If he didn't, she'd know. And he wasn't about to question her scary psychic mom powers.

But he was supposed to be out doing _research_. Not this.

Akamaru dragged a few magazines into the pile as his partner dug farther into the mess. He emerged with a periodical that must've been at least twelve years old if the cover meant anything. On it was a smiling Namikaze Minato in his Hokage garb partially covered with the header: _Exclusive Interview with Our New Hokage!_

Kiba sat back and flipped through with interest until he landed on the start of the interview. He scanned through the fluff and boring questions until he reached the last section.

 _ **Interviewer:**_ _So did you expect to become Hokage, or did it come to a complete surprise?_

 _ **Minato-sama:**_ _Well, the thing about choosing a new Kage is that you need to have trained them for the position months in advance, maybe even years. For me I prepared, uh, four, maybe five months?_ [laughs slightly]

 _ **Interviewer:**_ [in surprise] _That seems like a short amount of time._

 _ **Minato-sama:**_ _To be honest, I don't think I was a prime candidate. I was one of them, but I wasn't the first, or at least I don't think I was. I always though Sarutobi-sama would pick one of his old students—I'm kind of surprised he didn't._

He blinked and shared a look with Akamaru. "So... he's saying he wasn't supposed to be Hokage?"

Akamaru whined and quickly set aside the magazine to dive back into the other piles. "Right! I'll clean this all out and we'll go out there to get more research!"

::

Torifu had yet to stop talking.

Shino spared a subtle look at the clock and wilted, realizing he'd been in his seat for over an hour now. Snacks he couldn't imagine finishing covered space in front of him and beside him, Chouji leaned forward with stars in his eyes as his Grand-Uncle regaled stories of loss, battle, and triumph.

"Back in my youth, Hiruzen-sama definitely was something else. He's still something else to this day! But in the time of war he and Danzo had always been at each other, Danzo more than Hiruzen-sama. They were close friends, so we never understood that whole one-sided rivalry," Torifu sighed, shaking his head. "But I suppose his hard-headedness got him somewhere in the end. They always said Hiruzen-sama was too soft, and I guess he really did need Danzo to balance him out. The battles we all engaged in though were truly those of the highest honor! We all—"

Shino had already stopped listening and tried to make sense of what he just heard. Shimura Danzo had already been on their Person-of-Interest, but he was making bigger waves in the equation than what they first assumed.

Yesterday, Sakura said that Hokage-sama first stepped down due to one person in the council disagreeing with his choice in the war.

If Danzo was the person that 'balanced' him out, did that mean he was also the cause of the Third's removal from office in the first place?

::

Kiba stood in front of the Will of Fire statue where all the Kage would eventually be buried, the flame painted a bright red and looming stories above him. Everyone he asked about the Hokage always mentioned that he was a firm believer in that philosophy, that _Will of Fire_.

He first learned about it from his mother and she always explained to to him like this: Konoha was one big family and the Hokage always stood to be responsible for them like a father or a mother to their children. Their children were made up of civilians and shinobi and in times of need, every shinobi would love, believe, cherish, and fight for their family just as the generations before them had done.

Kiba wondered if he had the Will of Fire in him as well. Then he wondered if he even wanted it.

Could he fight for the people who treated Naruto like he wasn't a person? Could he fight for someone who allowed something like that to happen in the first place and could be guilty of the long string of lies that worked against his people— _his family_?

And, if they found out the truth, could he still fight for those who didn't deserve to be fought for?

::

Sakura read through the daily newspaper, muttering quietly to herself. Delicate, thoughtful, pacifist. Always butting heads with the council. Too soft. Too empathetic. "Not the qualities of a strong leader. I'd butt heads with him too if I were them."

She folded the paper and set it down on a side table before turning towards the shelves behind her. She'd been plucking through public files in the basement in Konoha's Main Library for some time just trying to look for anything significant to add to her research. There were many small folders on every genin team older than twenty years where she could only figure were there for novelty if anyone was interested enough to poke through.

And there was where she found the file on Team Hiruzen with a small blurb of each student written by the Third Hokage himself.

But the one about Orochimaru caught her attention.

 _He's a genius with talent, knowledge, and determination—a prodigy found once in a generation._

 _I can't wait to see him grow into a proud shinobi._

She committed the note to memory and returned the file to the shelf before gathering her things and heading back. There was a simple plan she was going to follow to pace her research: read the new books, add to the timeline, find more pieces to the puzzle.

Though as she entered her apartment and walked straight into her room, she paused as she spotted a stack of old papers bound in numerous rubber bands sitting on her desk.

Sakura tensed and backed away. She did a quick scan of the rest of the apartment and found that no one was there, none of her traps had been tripped, and anyone who had been in was now long gone having left her a... present. She didn't sense anything wrong with the object initially and after a few more tests, she deemed them safe and held them in her hands like they were as fragile as a thin sheet of glass.

It was correspondence between two people dubbed "Fortitude" and "Absolute Truth".

Years and years of letters on yellowed paper were spread out for her to see. They were of truths, of lies, of all things terrible.

 _"...signing on the creation of ROOT..."_

 _"...ignoring kidnappings..."_

 _"...allowing abductions..."_

 _"...looking away..."_

Those were things "Absolute Truth" had done.

 _"...working with questionable foreign ops..."_

 _"...abducting children..."_

 _"...dealing with what you don't want to..."_

 _"...actions against Konoha personnel..."_

Those were things "Absolute Truth" allowed "Fortitude" to do.

A thump resounded behind her. Sakura knew it was Naruto and she knew he probably tripped over his mess like he'd done a million times before, but in that moment her subconscious took over and she whipped around, launching shuriken at the source and embedding three of them in her wall.

Her heart beat in her ears.

Someone had come in. Someone knew what they were getting into. Someone had locked them in their investigation and they had no choice but to keep moving forward.

That night, Sakura sat in a corner of her room with a kunai in her grip and paranoia in her eyes.

She doesn't sleep.

Far from her and coveted in the darkness he'd been allowed to wallow in, Danzo received a slip of a note with two words that almost made him grin.

 _Package delivered._

::

"I can only deduce that 'Absolute Truth' is the Hokage. No one else has a comparable power other than him," Sakura said quietly. Morning light spilled through the window of her bedroom and illuminated the darkening bags beneath her eyes as she watched Kiba and Shino look through the missives with horror and revulsion. "He's been turning a blind eye to whatever ROOT is, organization or otherwise. He... There have been a steady stream of children disappearing with no investigations launched because the Hokage has been ignoring it for decades. It's completely separate from the Orochimaru predicament."

Shino's skin had gained an unhealthy pallor.

Kiba howled in anger and shot up to his feet. He paced from wall to wall for some moments before a guttural shout ripped his throat and he stormed down the hall to try and cool himself off only to stop dead in his tracks. "Uh, guys? You-You gotta get over here."

It was a mere few seconds until Shino and Sakura were at either side of his shoulders. He pointed to table where they stilled and stared, Shino with the missives tight in his hands.

There were two files laid out that certainly hadn't been there before. The first was a prompt to investigate missing children after the ascension of the Fourth Hokage, mostly redacted but kept with stacks of profiles of each child gone. The second was an account of Orochimaru's escape stamped with Kage Level Clearance.

For a long while, there was nothing but the sound of unsteady breaths.

"What happens if we stop now and get caught?" Shino asked.

"We get prosecuted for treason," Sakura replied.

"... And if we keep going and get caught?"

"We get prosecuted for treason."

Another heavy silence tided the room. This was completely different information and they knew now that if they took a closer look at those files, it wouldn't be only the Hokage's truth they would have to discover. It would also be Orochimaru's and why he turned out the way he did and ROOT with whatever they'd done and what they would do.

Shino took the file on the kidnapped children, swallowing down the bile in his throat. It was sick and inhumane, even more so since people purposefully did nothing about it. "When we looked into Uzumaki, we did it because we knew it was wrong and we wanted to find out the truth because it deserved to be more than a secret," he said. "This is different. Why? Because people were kidnapped, they suffered, they died, and no one cared." His grip crinkled the paper. "But someone has to."

He takes a seat at the table, his insects crawling out of the room to coat the kitchen.

Kiba's resolve hardened and he took both the second file and a seat to study it in a quiet so unlike him.

Sakura took her right wrist into her left hand, digging nails into skin as she squeezed to get them to stop shaking. She then flipped on the light pulled up a seat beside Shino to comb through the 60+ profiles and attribute the important information to memory, the insects blacking out the windows and entrances.

Just some distance away, Kisame sat in a tree with a chakra puddle on the trunk and Kasumi's head stuck out next to his.

"You didn't hesitate in taking those files," she mused.

"It's not like theft isn't already on my crimes list," he shrugged. "She needed intel, I got what I thought would be important." He smiled slightly. "I just hope she finds whatever she's lookin' for."

It wasn't until later that Kasumi tells him that the "whatever" turns out to be Orochimaru's abandoned lab.

::

On Monday, they combed the outskirts of the North side of the village. Nothing turned up, they all go home, and Sakura had yet to sleep.

Kisame decided to lay low in a tourist village some hours away from Konoha with a silent promise to check up on his pup in a few days.

::

Tuesday, Shino got his eyes checked and was given prescription lenses. When Sakura saw, she gave him two thumbs up. When Kiba saw, he complained that they looked exactly like his usual glasses.

Nothing showed up in the Northeast.

So at night, after searching, they decided that more research couldn't hurt them with how far they'd gotten now. They all took up a part of Sakura's bed with her on the side near the wall, Shino on the side near the desk, and Kiba with his head pillowed on Sakura's shins and Shino's calves resting on his stomach.

Kiba learned nothing more about their 'project' but set aside a book on seals to take home.

::

They didn't know who fell asleep first, but when Sakura woke up, white fur tickled her nose and she found herself in a heap of two other bodies and more than a shelf-full of books.

At training, Kurenai noticed their matching outfits.

She said it was cute.

"I keep lending them my clothes and they keep forgetting to give them back," Sakura said in reply. "I'm not going to have anymore clothes if they keep this up."

Later, they find nothing in the East.

::

After Thursday's practice, Shino and Kiba agreed to meet Sakura at her apartment after she took a quick trip to the library. When she came back, they stood at her door each with an armful of clothes.

"We apologize for taking your clothes," Shino said.

Kiba grinned. "We have some of ours you can wear!"

She stared and wondered why they couldn't just return hers. Then snorted. And then let them in.

But they still haven't found anything after searching the southeast side.

::

Just before entering the Aquatic Center on Friday, Shino sent his insects off saying it was better to have them out when he's submerged every now and again as to not overwhelm them with the amount of time he had to spend in the water.

Kurenai took the explanation in stride. It made sense, considering how much the Aburame cared for and respected their insects.

Kiba and Sakura knew he'd ordered them to look for any sign of a lab.

Kurenai stood at the edge of the pool and waited for her students to dress down and situate themselves in their assigned lane. When they did, she held the whistle up to her lips. "Two-hundred freestyle!" she announced, watching them with a critical eye.

"One-hundred breast!"

"One-hundred-fifty butterfly!"

"One-hundred back!"

"Six intervals of fifty meter kickboard!"

That warm-up ended with them taking an eight minute break, the three of them holding on the ledge for dear life the whole time as they gulped in air and hacked chlorinated water from their lungs. They groaned when they heard the whistle again.

"Four one-fifty sets butterfly, sixteen second break between each set!"

In the middle of the third set, Shino stopped in the middle of the pool, causing Kiba to crash into him. Sakura managed to avoid the collision and stood to lift her goggles to her forehead.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Yeah, what the hell?!" Kiba sputtered as he resurfaced. But Shino simply looked at them with his brows raised high and a definitive paling to his skin.

"The snake hid in a hole," he breathed, "is what the _dynastinae_ found."

::

 _ **I made a seventeen page outline and an eight page research paper about the Third Hokage and Orochimaru just to make this chapter. All information about what the Third, Danzo, and Orochimaru had done before inserting Team 8 is 100% canon according to the wiki with cited sources from the manga and the anime, and I can confirm one thing.**_

 _ **Sarutobi Hiruzen is one shitty Hokage.**_


	20. Sins of the Father

After practice, they all held some reluctance because deep down, they didn't think Shino's insects would actually _find_ something in the South. They each showered at the facility before meeting at the back entrance, nerves jittering and blood swishing in their ears. Akamaru stayed curled in the front of Kiba's jacket as they joined together in a tight circle, each of their arms draped across another's shoulder and the tops of their heads touching.

"On a scale of one to ten," Kiba started, his voice barely above an inaudible murmur. "How fucked are we?"

"Depends," Sakura whispered back, just as quiet. "We can turn back now and not dig ourselves a bigger hole or keep going and deal with the consequences later. I, for one, am willing to dive in head first into this mess. If you guys don't, I won't blame you." And she really wouldn't, because what they were doing was too big to be ignored. Now they knew Hiruzen held too much empathy in his heart to kill them or lock them away, but 'Fortitude' was nothing of the sort. If the Hokage wouldn't handle them, someone else would.

"So an eleven."

"Basically."

Shino's hold tightened. "We got into this as a team, we leave this incident a team. I will not back away from this now—not with everything we know and what strangers have done to keep us in this loop."

Kiba blew out a stream of troubled air, decided. He brought his right hand into the circle, fingers curled into his palm, and held it out far enough so it stayed in the middle. His fist was immediately met with Sakura's right and Shino's left.

 _What did it mean to seek answers for the sake of the people?_

"The weak are meat, the strong eat," Sakura said, "was my father's favorite saying. We need to push through because we have to, and if we don't, it'll be the end of us."

"The weak are meat, the strong eat, huh," repeated Kiba. A pleased growl rumbled low in Akamaru's throat as his partner grinned, masking his nervousness. "I could get used to a saying like that. If— _When_ we get outta this alive, we gotta make that our team slogan or saying or somethin'."

Shino drew in a deep breath. "Then it's settled. Let's go."

::

The entrance to Orochimaru's lab was a hole in the ground, the sides covered with purple-tinted stone carved with runic designs and the top sealed with a tough wooden plank. The undergrowth had taken to be its natural cover that Team Eight peeled away, and the man-made cover was pried open by Sakura's bandage-bound fingers. Peering eyes would've never noticed it there, but there were insects that buried deep beneath the earth and dug up secrets faster than any human ever could.

Kiba stumbled back when the entryway was revealed; he brought a hand up to cover the bottom half of his face and coughed. Akamaru whined and skittered back as well, and Sakura and Shino didn't need their sensitive noses to pick up on the faint stench that wafted in the air.

Sakura frowned. "Decay," she informed. She remembered that once, in Ame, she'd overheard Konan and Leader-sama speak of moving Orochimaru's lab to outside the village. The smell had been the same then—putrid and suffocating, but the smell now compared to then was far less painful. "But the smell shouldn't have lasted this long. It's been over a decade since Orochimaru left and the bodies should've been cleared out."

"... Unless they wanted to seal everything away, untouched. It's a madman's work, after all," Shino noted. They waited for Kiba and Akamaru to adjust themselves to the horrid scent before they all stared down and at the pitch blackness below.

"Doesn't seem too far down," Sakura said. Kiba, knowing her for as long as he had, tried to reach out to grab her shirt before she decided to jump down, caution to the wind. Of course he wasn't fast enough, he thought, and she sailed down to the bottom without a sound.

"Sakura? You good?" he called.

Her voice was distant. "At least there's a kerosene lamp down here. And it still works," she returned. Kiba rolled his eyes and Shino snorted. "I've got a couple lighters in my pack if the fuel and the wick run out, but it won't be the same." There was another pause as something began to glow in the depths. "Are you two just gonna stay up there or are you coming down?"

Kiba and Akamaru jumped next.

Shino took the plank in his hands and slid down the entrance, sure to cover the hole above them before his feet hit the ground with a light tap.

Outside, it was still. Like nothing had been stirred in the first place.

Then a shadow loomed over where the three genin once stood.

::

The preservation of the lab wasn't... bad. It aged well for a place that was neglected for the past decade. Reluctantly, Sakura admitted the architecture of the whole underground compound wasn't too shabby. Kiba vehemently disagreed.

"This place's built like a maze," he hissed. They walked slowly with every step a calculated measure and had yet to pass any rooms, but the number of forked paths they'd had to pass was starting to stack. "What kind of creepy bastard does something like this?"

They made a right, Sakura at the helm with the lamp held out in front of her. She stopped. And in turn, the rest of the team stopped as well.

The section they only just entered was lined with steel cells, rust on the bars and chains hanging from their insides. "The type of creepy bastard that keeps prisoners from escaping," she answered. Her lips pressed into a grim line. "We'll start a search here. I'll leave the lamp in the middle of the section, but if you find any more, let me know."

All the cells were open, or at least had been rusted enough to push through. Shino peered into one and saw a skeleton laying on its side on the floor. It was far smaller than him and still wore the clothes it probably had been when it was still a person—nothing but a few rags and with a paper clutched in its finger bones.

He gulped and walked in before crouching down, taking the paper, and unraveling it.

 _mama y arnt u heer_

 _i havnt seen u in a long tym_

 _waz i bad?_

 _is that y the man took me_

 _becuz i waz bad?_

The letters were dried and brown and he couldn't convince himself that it was written with a peculiar brand of ink that just so happened to be lying around. He set the note back down, took one last look at the bones of a child forgotten, and headed to the next cell.

Meanwhile, Kiba had found a room in the midst of the cells. A desk and a chair lay inside with dilapidated shelves and files that filled them. Each tab bore a name, and he pulled one out at random and flipped it open.

And he dropped it like it scalded his fingers.

Because the first page was a photo of a body so disfigured it no longer looked like a human, but a description of what a child would say was the monster that lived under their bed except bloodier, gruesome, sickening, _real_. He wanted to back out of the room, but he knows he can't. There were more files meaning more research and he couldn't let the opportunity slip from his fingers and let down the rest of his team. He needed to do it.

Somebody had to.

Sakura stood with two more kerosene lamps hanging from her fingers, limp and on the verge of slipping. What she should've been doing was lighting the new lamps she'd found so her team could look for clues and research better, but for the moment, she could only stare.

Inside the cell were bed sheets fitted into a rope, one end tied to the pipes running above the ceiling, the other end tied in a loop and hanging over a pile of bones.

 _"I can't keep you from the world you were born into,"_ she heard her father's voice sigh in her ears. He sounded sad, like he always did when he talked about her future or whenever she asked about the Akatsuki. _"I'm a murderer—a traitor, a villain. I can't hide that from you. You don't deserve to be lied to, not when you never had a choice in being here."_

 _What did it mean to be a "villain"?_

Her father had always been astoundingly honest with her, now that she thought back to all the things he told her when she was younger. Sometimes he would be hesitant, but he was blunt. He told her what he thought she needed to hear, and sometimes he'd tell her what everyone else thought that he didn't agree with.

 _"They say you won't survive in this world," he said. "There aren't kids like you that have moms or dads like me. You've been on the run since the day you opened your eyes and I'm sorry that it had to be this way."_

 _Sakura was six. They were seated at the kitchen table, a light flickering over them as her father stared down at his hands with a glassy sheen to his eyes. She didn't understand why he couldn't look at her. "You and your mother are the best things that ever happened to me," he admitted quietly. "I was selfish for bringing you into this life. I'm sorry."_

 _She took one look at his face, climbed out of her seat, and crawled into his lap to take his face into her impossibly small hands and squished his cheeks together. "I love Papa," she stated firmly. "I love Papa because he tucks me in at night an' remembers my fav'rite breakfast an' when he fixes my hair every mornin', he says he'll do better next time even though he always does a very good job. He trains me to be the bestest shinobi an' makes me laugh with his silly jokes an' tells me how much he loves me all the time because he's a good Papa."_

 _His shoulders started to shake._

 _"He takes me to see Mama an' lets me pick out flowers an' lets me know if she thinks they're pretty or not. An' when he's not doin' that, he tells me stories an' lets me read an' keeps me safe." She nodded and patted his cheeks. "You can't be a murde-derer or traitor or a vil-layn 'cause you're my Papa and you're my bestest friend."_

Sakura couldn't forget that day almost six years ago. That was the first time she'd ever seen her father cry.

She touched her cheek with her free hand, realizing the tears on her face must've streaked down her face when she was caught up in a memory. Quickly, she swiped at her eyes with her arm guards and took one step closer to the cell, the lamps clinking at her side. "I won't forget you," she whispered to the bones. "I promise. Not when you never had a choice in being here."

Her eyes snapped to the corner of the hall and up to the ceiling, but there was no one. _Nerves_ , she told herself, _are more trouble than they're worth._

But no matter. They needed to keep moving. Her eyes lingered on the horrifying display for a few seconds more before she turned to light the two lamps and went to look for Shino and Kiba to hand them over.

::

Eventually, they all found their way to join Kiba in the office to sort through the files to see if there was anything they could account for. Sakura's and Shino's initial reaction to the information were akin to Kiba's: horror-struck, disgusted, resigned in the way no one wanted to be.

Shino was tired; tired of knowing that these missing children were taken, tired that no one tried to save them, tired that he knew they had to suffer tortures unimaginable, tired that it finally sunk in that their corpses had been left to fester and their families had to live never knowing what happened to them.

Sometimes Sakura wished her memory wasn't as good as it was. This was one of those times.

They timed themselves at an hour to get through as much as they could before they decided to move on to see if they could find anything else besides experimentation files. But just before they left the office, Shino had a handful of insects copy a sheet before quartering them in a part of his arm on standby, the three of them reaching a silent agreement not to mention it until they were in a safe place.

They continued on.

Until they found the experimentation room itself.

In the very center was a metal table with thick leather straps hanging off the sides. Beside it was a long tray that held an assortment of instruments that ranged from scalpels to saws to needles, each crusted with blood and dulled from use.

That wasn't the worst part of the room, no, not by a kilometer. Wooden boards line up against all four walls and took up every centimeter, each equipped with cuffs for wrists and ankles and straps for necks. But each board—every single one—held parts of withering skeletons. Dead that were never freed. Dead that were never laid to rest. In some places, there were pots with an assortment of bones in each, most likely used as trash piles for unwanted limbs, stained with brown and covered in webs.

There was another door in the room. Kiba, quick to try and shake the heavy feeling of nausea from his stomach, pushed it open and hoped that it wasn't as bad as the room filled to the brim with tortured ghosts.

There were... glass tubes. Tens of them, some filled with liquid the color of jagermeister and others broken to reveal thin rubber pipes running down from the top. Test tubes.

Files were there too. Each with a number and a picture of a child.

A child, he imagined, that matched one of the sixty or so small skeletons that littered the room.

"A name..." Kiba whispered. Akamaru, who'd been observing their surroundings with wide, terrified eyes, took the handle of the lamp in his mouth and slowly backed away from his partner. Sakura stepped into the room with a face blank and unfeeling.

"Did you say something, Kiba?" she asked tonelessly. Suddenly, the file in his hands was thrown onto the floor and he _screams_.

" _A NAME_!" he cried. "The _LEAST_ he could've done was _WRITE_ their _NAMES_! Kids aren't _NUMBERS_! Kids aren't _EXPERIMENTS_! How come when he ran off, no one came?! _HUH_?! _WHY DIDN'T ANYONE COME_?! They should've been buried or cremated or-or _SOMETHING_! Over _TEN FUCKING YEARS_ they've been here! _THEIR BODIES SHOULD'VE BEEN TAKEN BACK_!"

His fist went through an already broken tube and glass crashed onto the floor as a hand comes to cover his eyes.

"Breathe," Sakura's voice told him. He struggled.

"Their _bodies_ —"

"In... two... three... four..." she said. "Out... two... three... four... In..."

Eventually, _eventually_ , he calmed down with Sakura's bandaged palm pressed to his face that he found strangely soothing. And now that he calmed some, he noticed the lack of emotion in her tone and in the way she carried herself and he didn't blame her. When things like this happened, she retreats and becomes the strange new kid who's having her first day at the Academy again.

"I'm good," he murmured, thoroughly drained. Her hand fell back down to her side and she approached one of the filled tubes. The liquid inside, she decided, was viscous. Meant to hold bodies in suspension, probably. She took the file Kiba threw onto the floor and read the information inside.

 _Subject 01: FAILURE_

 _Failed to merge with Senju Hashirama's DNA_

 _Bloodline not passed on_

 _Reaction: Incompatible blood types. Body rejected compound. Death imminent._

 _Instructions: Dispose of body. Move to next subject._

Sakura sighed heavily and placed the file back onto one of the tables.

Shino slowly entered the room and took in the defeated droop of his teammates' shoulders and felt his body do the same. "These children and these subjects... they're different than the ones 'Fortitude' had been allowed to take," he commented. "Why? We agreed 'Fortitude' couldn't have been Orochimaru."

"'Fortitude' had been kidnapping children for decades before Orochimaru took his sixty," Sakura added. "That's over a hundred children. And we're not even counting others he might've taken on a whim or the adults he decided were fit enough for other experiments."

Kiba turned around to face them. "The Will of Fire," he spat. "Is nothing but something the Hokage's been hiding behind for years. We asked why he stepped down the first time, but that doesn't matter. We should be asking why the hell he was allowed to take his position back in the first place!"

Red face, clenched fists, pupils that narrowed so much that he nearly resembled a savage animal ready to strike.

"Kiba—"

"I wonder whose fault it really is," he seethed, his voice acid. "'Fortitude' for the children, Orochimaru for their suffering, or the Hokage, who knew everything that was happening but didn't do a damn thing to stop it."

Shino began to try and placate his friend, but he was stopped by a pair of gloved hands that erupted from behind him and covered his mouth.

::

Tenzou didn't know why he would be assigned to follow a group of three genin until he trailed them to the outskirts of the village and somehow, by some miraculous way, they unearthed the lab he once was taken to as a child and hadn't seen the light of day for months. It wasn't the one he and Kakashi had searched before, because this one was newer. Left to be forgotten.

He watched them crack open the entrance as the scent hit the air and his stomach flipped. Not because it smelled of death, but because it was beginning to bring back memories of yellow eyes and a glass tube.

They stood there for a bit, conversing, before the girl—Sakura, his mind supplies, the orphan with no surname—jumped down without signal before the Inuzuka boy—Kiba—can grab hold of her collar and stop her. There were a few more exchanges before he jumped down too with the Aburame Heir—Shino—taking up the rear, but not before covering the hole back up with the plank.

He let a full five minutes pass him by before he jumped down from his perch, silently pried the plank off, and followed. By the time he'd caught up to them they'd already found the cells. Tenzou remembered which one had been his before he was hauled off and stuffed in a tube where he always felt as if he was drowning but just couldn't seem to die. His was the cell right next to the office with flooring of coarse dirt and sharp, tiny pebbles. He'd wished he'd never see it again.

Crouched in a high corner of the sector, he watched as Shino pried a note from the bones of a starved child. He read through it, tensed, set it down, and moved on.

Tenzou understood. Death was never easy.

When he went to observe Sakura, her eyes had glazed over as she stared at the bones of a child who thought they'd found the way to freedom. He didn't know if she was lost in thought or dissociating, but tears leaked from the corner of her eyes and she made no move to stop them. Though when she does, she moved closer to the cell and began to whisper. Tenzou leaned forward to try and catch her words.

"I won't forget you," she said. His heart started to hurt, and he didn't know why. "I promise. Not when you never had a choice in being here."

Then something in her face changed. He was given a split second chance to hide (which he does or he wouldn't have been regarded as the highest performing ANBU operative to have worked under the Third Hokage) before her eyes flicker up to the spot he'd just been in.

She knew he was there? Sakura shouldn't have been capable of something like that in any way shape or form according to her file.

The three of them congregated in the office filled with the case files of those who were there before Tenzou and the other children were taken in to try to get their bodies to mesh with Hashirama's DNA.

His fists balled up. He was the only experiment to survive and was the only one able to walk away with another chance.

And it was painful. To be the only one that remembered.

He stayed outside the office because adding one more body, even in hiding, was too risky a move, especially since one of them displayed the proficiency to target his location. And if she raised alarm, he didn't know if he could avoid the collective efforts of thousands of insects and a scent-sensor without being caught or abandoning his mission in the process.

He heard the shuffle of papers and the occasional pause to stop bile from climbing up their throats.

An hour passed and they left. Tenzou still didn't know what they came here for.

Then they find the experimentation room. They haven't spoken since their initial discovery of bodies and it was disconcerting, even to Tenzou. These children had been exposed to something they truly shouldn't have and he could see it wearing them down bit by bit. As the team walked through the main labs, he tried to push down his memories.

The skeletons in the test tube room were once children he knew. He spoke with them, once. He prayed with them, once.

Now, he didn't remember what they looked like.

As Kiba gazed around the adjoining room and picked up one of the folders, it was the last straw. Tenzou knew he'd be angry, but he wasn't prepared for what the boy was angry for.

" _A NAME_!" Kiba screamed. It was the type of scream that ripped at the vocal cords and flayed the skin from the muscles in the neck. It was a scream that went as far as to hurt him from his spot in the shadows. "The _LEAST_ he could've done was _WRITE_ their _NAMES_! Kids aren't _NUMBERS_! Kids aren't _EXPERIMENTS_! How come when he ran off, no one came?! _HUH_?! _WHY DIDN'T ANYONE COME_?! They should've been buried or cremated or-or _SOMETHING_! Over _TEN FUCKING YEARS_ they've been here! _THEIR BODIES SHOULD'VE BEEN TAKEN BACK_!"

As Sakura calmed him down, he tried to understand. Kiba was angry over these children... well, it was instinct to be upset, but not at such an astronomical level. It was something personal now, but Kiba must've been a month or two in age when this tragedy occurred. He wouldn't have known. Shouldn't.

Shino came over, rubbing his eyes from beneath his glasses. "These children and these subjects... they're different from the ones 'Fortitude' had been allowed to take."

 _'Fortitude?'_ Tenzou thought warily. Taking children? That sounded like a Danzo type action. Perhaps it was code name for that horrible man.

... Wait.

Were they implying that Danzo had been _allowed_ to take children? On whose authority?

"Why?" he continued. "We agreed 'Fortitude' couldn't have been Orochimaru."

"'Fortitude' had been kidnapping children for decades before Orochimaru took his sixty," Sakura said. Tenzou frowned. 'Fortitude had to be Danzo, no question about it. "That's over a hundred children. And we're not even counting others he might've taken on a whim or the adults he decided were fit enough for other experiments."

They were seeking justice, Tenzou realized. For years, no one cared because no one knew—couldn't know—but somehow these children had come up from nowhere with the desire to have whoever had done this to face the consequences of their actions.

 _Stop_ , he wanted to tell them, sorrowfully, emphatically. _It won't work. You won't win. Danzo and Orochimaru are too powerful for you to stop._

"The Will of Fire," Kiba growled. "Is nothing but something the Hokage's been hiding behind for years."

... Hokage-sama? What did he have to do with this?

"We asked why he stepped down the first time, but that doesn't matter. We should be asking why the hell he was allowed to take his position back in the first place!"

They weren't saying—

"Kiba—"

"I wonder whose fault it really is," Kiba said. Hate filled every inch of his voice. "'Fortitude' for the children, Orochimaru for their suffering, or the Hokage, who knew everything that was happening but didn't do a damn thing to stop it."

That one accusation shattered Tenzou's whole world.

Then he leaped.

::

It was a bright day outside, Hiruzen thought, as he gazed out the window in one of the conference rooms in the Hokage Tower. No one was in the hall and no one would be there the rest of the day, so he was alone. But not for long, he imagined.

Orochimaru inevitably came to mind and he sighed. He'd made many, many mistakes in his past. Why were they coming up now?

 _What did it mean to take the fall for a traitor?_

The smell of chakra smoke invaded his nose and he turned, the ends of his robes brushing against the floor. His number one ANBU operative Cat arrived with three genin and a nin-dog in his arms, all hazy and disoriented with the subduing jutsu used on them as they're deposited on the ground.

He didn't know why those children would even _consider_ entering that lab, and how they even managed to find it was beyond him.

He patiently waited for them to collect their bearings so he could begin to ask them questions. Shino was the first to look around blearily and laid his eyes to the man before him. Hiruzen expected him to be somewhat nervous in the presence of his leader and perhaps a touch afraid, but he didn't expect true fear to cross his face and for him to stand and scramble backwards until his back hit the wall.

Cat stood in front of the door to block the only viable exit. He didn't flinch.

"Shino-kun," Hiruzen tried gently. "There's nothing to worry about. You've only been taken here to be asked a few questions."

But Shino didn't answer. Instead, as Sakura became aware of her surroundings, his hands wrapped around Kiba's upper arm. Was he that put-off that he felt the need to cling on to his other teammate? Hiruzen was bewildered. Surely his appearance couldn't be _that_ intimidating.

Sakura's eyes focused in and landed on the Hokage. For reasons unknown that both surprised and intrigued him, they settled into coldness as she pushed herself onto her feet and stood next to Shino. She was a bit ahead of him and her shoulder covered his in a show of protection.

"Why did you have an ANBU take us here?" she asked quietly.

"You were trespassing in a place you weren't supposed to be in, Sakura-kun," informed Hiruzen. "Now the question remains, what were the three of you doing there in the first place?"

Kiba finally gained awareness and lifted his head. To Hiruzen's even grander surprise, a guttural noise erupted from the boy's lungs as he tried to lunge, but Shino pulled and pinned him against the wall. Sakura looked over her shoulder.

"Kiba, wai—!"

"How could you leave all those bodies in that lab?!" he demanded. "You already let children get _kidnapped_! The least you could do was given them back to their families and own up to everything else you've ever done!"

::

No one was in the halls and no one would be there for the rest of the day, and Tenzou didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Kiba's outburst hit him just as hard as his earlier accusation, but he showed no outward discomfort. From behind his mask, he watched as Shino kept an arm across his teammate's chest to hold him back and how Sakura swallowed her words and stared back at the Hokage.

She stopped because she wanted to know as well.

Tenzou's eyes moved back to his Hokage. He should just deny the accusation, shouldn't he? The kidnappings had all been Danzo's fault, hadn't it? There was no way he would've allowed it; there was no way he could've just sat back and watched. He himself had heard the stories first-hand—Danzo secretly created ROOT and once it came to the Third's attention, it became too large of an organization to stop. The Third had been blindsided, he had no choice.

Hiruzen... had saved him from Danzo. Both him and Kakashi. Surely, he could have nothing to do with that wretched man's schemes.

But then Hiruzen's face grew tired, heavy with the stress of his civic duty. "And what, child, are the things you think I've done?"

The three genin exchanged glances before Sakura stepped up with squared shoulders and a tongue, Tenzou learned, that was lined with liquid silver. "No one knew why you stepped down as Hokage your first tenure and it's still widely debated to this day, according to _Hiruzen Sarutobi: Twice a Hokage_. You'd just signed the peace treaty with Iwa to end the war and only one person on your council hadn't agreed with your decision and we'd narrowed that council member down to Shimura Danzo, the person who'd always been at the opposite end from you, even in the face of the First War. You were rivals and you'd never agreed. Not even back then."

Tenzou didn't know what was happening. Didn't know where it was heading. But he didn't like it.

"Shimura Danzo is your 'balance'," Shino said. Gears turned in his head as he spoke as if new revelations were only just unfolding before him. "That's why there's correspondence between him, 'Fortitude', and you, the 'Absolute Truth'. You, Hokage-sama, allowed him to create ROOT, ignored the kidnappings his organization conducted for operatives, allowed the abduction of children, looked away when..." His hold on Kiba slackened as he paled. "... I was a young child," he started, his voice lowering with each breath. Sakura's and Kiba's heads snapped to him. "I was a young child when I saw Danzo-sama for the first time. And that was the last day I'd ever seen my cousin, Torune. He was like a... a brother to me... he... you allowed Danzo to take him, didn't you?"

Tenzou froze. _Tell them what they're saying isn't true,_ he begged silently. _Deny them. Tell them you're wrong. You wouldn't do something like this, Hokage-sama!_

Hiruzen, old and torrential and powerful, closed his eyes and turned away. "Danzo had always expressed an interest in someone from the Aburame Clan," is all he replied. But his message was clear. _I did._

The silence that followed rang too loud in Tenzou's ears that he feared they might start to bleed.

Shino couldn't continue, his arms falling limply at his sides. Kiba grasped one of his clammy hands and squeezed. To keep him grounded. To keep him here. His angry eyes met Sakura's and she nodded, taking the reins of the conversation back into her hands.

"There are things about Orochimaru too, we've learned," she said. Her voice was strong—powerful, enough to knock at Hokage's slowly crumbling wall. It was what she wanted, though. He needed to feel every hit, every blow she would deliver. "You called him ' _a genius with talent, knowledge, and determination—a prodigy found once in a generation'_ ," she quoted verbatim. "You _'couldn't wait to seem him grow into a proud shinobi'_. But he's been twisted for a long time. He'd been doing experiments for a long time, I imagine, to seek immortality for one and to merge Senju Hashirama's DNA with children for another. The latter he tried doing when he took sixty children right after Namikaze Minato's ceremony to become Hokage. Why the timing? What was he waiting for?"

Hiruzen had his back turned to them, and Tenzou couldn't envision the look on Hokage's face. Was he going to lie— _again_? Lie like he'd been doing this whole time?

"He... was waiting to be sure."

"Sure? Of what?" Sakura questioned. Hiruzen heaved a terrible sigh and sagged into himself.

"Sure that I was not to make him the Fourth Hokage. Before... I'd made it my plan to. He showed so much promise."

"He's a _twisted bastard_!" Sakura shouted. She remembered his sickly lips and bile-yellow eyes and the way her name rolled off his tongue when they met for the first time. She remembered all the people who would go into his lab and never come out and she remembered how her father always made sure she was never alone with him.

And now, she remembered the skeletons and the make-shift bed sheets and the pictures she could never even hope to forget with the way they burned into her mind like someone forced a bucket of boiling water into her mouth.

"He was like a son to me!" Hiruzen snapped. He spun around with impressive grace and she flinched. He wilted. "He was like a son to me," he says again, softer, sadder. "And when I caught him in that lab, I couldn't believe he was capable of such an evil, but I—"

" _You_ caught him red-handed?" she interrupted. He allowed the interruption and stared her down warily. Her acute intelligence already displayed when she listed the consequences of his shortcomings in a way that was never documented in her profile. She was supposed to be the set average, but there was nothing average about the situation they'd entrapped themselves in. "The books say Orochimaru was caught red-handed before he made his escape and got away. Are you saying that he, miraculously, got away with both you and him unscathed?"

Hiruzen didn't know she'd just taken a shot in the dark and hit the bullseye dead center.

Tenzou didn't know how much more of this he could take.

The Third stared her in the eyes and she stared back. Lying would be pointless now, especially since the three of them already knew too much. "... He was like a son to me," he repeated for the third time. "And I couldn't bear to be the one to strike down my own son."

 _What did it mean to love someone?_

The strained silence that followed was smothering.

Kiba's eyes were alight with unholy fire. "We saw the bodies in that lab," he hissed. "We saw the case files and their pictures of when they were getting experimented on. People were looking for them when you sealed the lab." Akamaru started growling with the rise of his partner's agitation. "You disrespected them by letting them be taken and you did it a second time when you left them to _rot_. Did you even know their names?!"

Hiruzen's eyes flickered, but he said nothing.

Kiba's eyes turned to slits and Shino looked up. "We do," he said. "When we were looking at their files to figure out what was going on, what went wrong, we memorized their names," he stated shakily. "Why? Because they deserved to be remembered by someone. The least they could've gotten were graves or a mention in a solemn speech, but even then, they had none of that. Their families to this day are left wondering and you couldn't even muster the decency to tell them that their children are dead and you set their murderer free. Do you think he's still experimenting to this day? _I_ do, and I know it's your fault."

Tenzou wondered why a team of genin would go so far out of their way for something like this and how they could stand there and dig themselves a bigger hole for the sake of people they would never meet.

Then he wondered why he slowly found himself wanting to stand by their side while they did it.

"And still to this day, it seems you do your fair share of wronging those who don't deserve it," Sakura continued, relentless. "Uzumaki Naruto is just another name on the list."

Hiruzen winced as if struck.

"He's a happy-go-lucky sort of kid. Not much of a studier, but he tries his best, you know? I moved into my new apartment not knowing he was my neighbor, but he happily greets me every time he sees me and we'll walk to the training grounds together. Last week he helped me make dinner, and do you know what I thought of then?"

Hiruzen, ashen and dwindling, went along with her narrative. "What was it you thought of, Sakura-kun?"

"I wondered if Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina would grieve if they saw the way the village treated their son."

"I truly care for the child. I changed his last name so that Minato's enemies couldn't _target_ him—"

"I watched Naruto get thrown out of a store by the store owner and punched in the face so hard he got a black eye by a passerby," she told him bluntly. "The black eye was gone by the next day, though, but I suppose since a jinchuuriki's healing factor is so strong it's an excuse not to act on open scenes of child abuse, correct? Or is it because since everyone thinks he's a monster, it's okay, because monsters aren't supposed to be treated like people?"

Even Tenzou had to resist the urge to flinch at that. From behind his mask, he witnessed a flood of emotions wash over the Third's face before they're shut out and sealed tightly behind the visage of a strong leader. His face grew stony but sorrowful as his back straightened and he opened his mouth. "Cat, restrain."

For the first time in his career under the Hokage, he didn't want to follow orders.

But still, he did.

He placed his hand on the wall and pillars of wood rushed out, taking Shino, Kiba, Sakura, and Akamaru into its bindings and securing them nearly a foot off the floor. They flailed and writhed, shouting to be let go.

No one was in the halls and no one would be there for the rest of the day, so there wasn't a single person that heard their cries for help.

"I agree that I've made far too many mistakes in my time. But please understand, some of those mistakes stem from the fact that no other choice could be made," he admitted. He looked even more tired now with deep trenches between his wrinkles and a truly apologetic shine to his old eyes. "You've all made a stand here today that many would be afraid to start. You've conquered and you've proven yourselves, but you all know too much." He took in a shuddering breath. "This, I cannot allow."

"So what?!" Sakura barked as she jerked her shoulder against the wood. "You're gonna kill us? We're gonna be three more kids Konoha's never gonna see again?"

He shook his head morosely. "For the sake of the village and its secrets, your memories will be altered."

"Then you'll have to remove weeks from our minds! People are going to notice and they're going to ask questions," she refuted. "Naruto's going to ask me why I don't remember some of things things we've done together and he knows my memory's damn near photographic! He's going to get suspicious! _I'm_ going to get suspicious! And when it gets to that point, we'll figure it out all over again!"

The mention of a photographic memory was certainly news to his ears, but the mention of Naruto wasn't. Whenever the boy came to his office to talk about his day or his week, he always spoke so highly of her; Sakura-chan who was his first real friend, Sakura-chan who didn't hate him like everyone else did, Sakura-chan who always gave him the time of day.

He was stuck. What else could he do but—

"Perhaps I could be of use, then?"

Danzo seemed to melt out of the shadows and Tenzou truly did flinch then. Hiruzen turned to his old friend with a crease in his brow, the genin still struggling in their bindings.

"How long have you been there?"

"Enough to listen to them tear you a new one," he remarked readily. His one eye peered at each of genin's angry, exhausted, frightened faces before turning to the Hokage. "But truly, I do have something that will keep them quiet without having to resort to memory tampering _and_ that will keep you from having to monitor their every movement."

"They won't be killed, Danzo—"

"No, never," he drawled. His cane tapped against the floor as he walked up to the genin, delighted that they stared up at him in pure loathing. "Children, have you ever heard of the Curse Tongue Eradication Seal?"

 _What did it mean to do what you knew was wrong?_

Tenzou's head whipped up to his former master. "They're not ROOT members," he protested. He shrunk slightly at the man's piercing glare and resumed his silence. Danzo turned his attention back to the team.

"It's a curse seal, normally given to ROOT members, just as _Cat_ mentioned." The ANBU's code-name dripped off his lips in disgust. "It's to ensure no information about me nor my organization falls into the wrong hands. It can also solve your plight here and sew your mouths shut so you can never speak of anything pertaining to what you've learned. In essence, should you speak of your newfound knowledge to any other that isn't me, Hiruzen, or another person that holds the seal, your body will paralyze itself and remove your ability to speak or move."

His eye roved over to the Third. "Of course, the implementation of this action will all be up to the discretion of your kind, truthful Hokage."

Hiruzen frowned at the clear sarcastic tone before looking at the genin. Team Eight, under Kurenai, meant to be tracking/intelligence team. He always thought they'd grow to be fiercely loyal shinobi that fought for Konoha's Will of Fire.

 _What did it mean to never change?_

His gaze shifted back to Danzo. "If there is another means than altering their memories, so be it." He doesn't look at the three betrayed, petrified faces as his old friend smiled and drew closer to them. Sakura, who tried to recoil from the approaching figure of a bastard of a man, shot a dark look towards the Hokage who hadn't the decency to face them as they themselves were forced to face what would come.

"Everyone has a choice," she said. Her words echoed and Danzo's fingers shone blue. "And you've only been making the wrong ones."

Tenzou, though they were shackled under his own wood jutsu, shut his eyes.

No one was in the halls and no one would be there for the rest of the day.

So there was no one else that would hear the screams of those whose tongues were branded for silence.

::

They stumbled onto the floor of Sakura's apartment in a small explosion of smoke. Shino hit one of the plastic chairs in the kitchen and knocked it down, Sakura's back collided with the corner of the fridge, Kiba rolled into the wooden entryway of the kitchen, and Akamaru skidded to a stop underneath the table.

Their tongues burned and they could do nothing but hold their mouths and think back to what just transpired.

That same ANBU who'd watched and done nothing to stop it, Cat, stood and stared in the same unfeeling way all operatives seemed to do. Then, he spoke.

"You may want to rinse your mouths out with cool or salt water first," he said softly. "Over-the-counter painkillers should work just fine, and if you desire, you could either hold an ice cube in your mouth or sprinkle sugar on your tongue to try and ease your pain." He paused. "And I apologize for the rough landing. You were all struggling too much for me to get a proper hold on."

Sakura hefted herself up to her feet, staggering only slightly, and slowly made her way over to the cabinet. She pulled out a tin that Tenzou could only deduce was sugar and she set it down on the table. Then, she went to the fridge and pulled out a tray of ice from the top freezer and placed it down as well.

Kiba managed to get himself up with a groan and lent a hand to Shino to help him up to his feet. The latter set the toppled chair back on its right end and all but collapsed in it, the former falling into his own seat. Sakura crouched, pulled Akamaru from the floor as he whimpered and pawed at his mouth and laid him atop the table. She was the last to take her place and promptly propped her elbow up and dropped her head into her hand.

There was the clinking of the sugar container, the crack of popping ice cubes from their tray, and the singular shuffle of an ANBU operative shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Sakura sighed.

"What more do you want?" she asked. Her voice was deflated, all passion and indignation steamed away along with the brand she was forced to carry. "We said all we wanted to say and were punished for our actions. There's nothing left for you to do."

Tenzou had so many questions on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to ask her why; why they went so far, how they could've mustered up all that bravery to speak to the Hokage in such a manner, why one incident mattered so much that they sacrificed everything for it.

All he wanted to know was _why_.

But instead, he said the other words that were eating at his mind. "I wanted to say thank you."

They all stared owlishly at him.

"Thank you?!" Kiba sputtered. The ice cube he'd been keeping on his tongue slipped out of his mouth and splattered onto the table. Sakura slid the paper towels over to him without taking her eyes off the ANBU standing in her hallway as Shino's brows furrowed.

Tenzou moved his mask to the side so just the bottom half of his face was exposed and showed them his tongue. On it was a seal of three solid lines and two broken ones, appearing in the form of something similar to an incomplete rectangle that served an identical match to the seals given to Team Eight. "All of ROOT are given the seal, both current and retired members bear the symbol," he explained, placing his mask back over his face. "You all are the first outside the organization to receive it, for I once again must apologize for. I did not think Hokage-sama would resort to such... measures."

Sakura scoffed and Kiba batted her arm for the action.

"But you went down to Orochimaru's lab and prior to that, I assume, found the truths you spoke of earlier. I want to thank you for that." He stopped and tried to search for more of the right words. "And I want to thank you for trying to bring us justice."

Shino blinked. "You were one of the sixty?"

Tenzou didn't answer the inquiry. "None of us knew the things Hokage-sama had done because we were never given a reason to be suspicious. I don't know how you came up on the situation or how you managed to follow it through, but thank you."

Kiba sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "But we didn't really _do_ anything. No one else found out about it and we can't tell anyone else." He popped another cube from the tray, stuck it in his mouth, and grimaced. "They sealed our mouths shut. Literally."

"I found out," Tenzou reminded them quietly. "I can't hope to tell my fellow shinobi the things I've learned today, but I will not allow you to say you haven't made a difference."

And he meant it, because once he escaped the darkness that was Danzo, he'd been in the dark for so long that the shadow the Hokage cast looked leagues brighter than ROOT could have ever hoped to give him. But all it took were a few old kerosene lamps to show him the way, and there was nothing more he could be but grateful for what he'd been allowed to see.

Sakura sat up. "Sunday, eight in the evening, the red bridge near Team Seven's training grounds," she said. Tenzou tilted his head. "We'll be doing a little thing you might be interested in, so you can come if you want."

He nodded once. "I will keep that in mind. Take care."

He disappeared, and they all sat back with a collective sigh.

"So I mean, I think we got a solid fifteen on the scale of getting fucked," Kiba said, trying to lighten the mood. He grinned slightly when he received a chuckle out of Sakura, but then trailed off when his gaze landed on Shino. They'd never heard of Torune before, but by the sounds of it, what the Third did ran a lot deeper than they first thought. "You okay?"

Shino's head raised and he regarded his friend. Okay? None of them could be really okay after that experience and after they'd been sworn to secrecy against their wills, but then he thought back to the point he presented that made him go numb. "Oh. You're speaking of Torune?" he asked, albeit distantly. "It's... fine. Why? It was a long time ago. I'm glad to know he isn't dead."

Sakura clapped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He wasn't alone, he knew that much, and he was glad that he now had a team to fall back on.

Then another thought came to mind as he extended his hand and ushered a cluster of insects to crawl out. "Sakura, do you have a sheet of paper I could use? There's something I need to them to copy."

She nodded and walked to her room. She came back, placed a notepad in front of him and watched his insects flood the page and write what they'd found in the lab earlier. Akamaru padded over to sniff at the sheets, and Kiba stood and walked around the table to Shino's free side.

When the insects finished their task, both Sakura's and Kiba's eyes went wide.

"Is that..."

Shino pushed up his glasses, his eyes tired but with a spark of victory. "We couldn't walk away from that situation with only a memory of those experimentation files. The least Orochimaru could do for us is share some knowledge on a few of his jutsu."

::

On Sunday there were stars.

Night fell over Konoha and Tenzou found himself crouched in the brush near the river that ran through Team Seven's training grounds. It was quarter to eight and the red bridge remained empty, and he sat there wondering why he even decided to come in the first place. He'd said his dues and thanked them for their work; there was no reason for him to arrive on their invitation. Nothing had changed. Everyone form that lab was still dead, save for him.

 _What did it mean to be alone?_

His eyes drew to the sound of approaching shinobi. Sakura, Shino, and Kiba walked towards his direction, each carrying a small bag as Akamaru trotted alongside them. They stopped in the middle of the bridge and sat in a circle with the bags at their sides and the space in front of them clear.

Tenzou narrowed his eyes. What were they doing?

Kiba reached into one of the bags and pulled out two thin, flat planks of wood and tied them together in the shape of an 'x' that was about the size of his palm. He nicked notches into each side before passing it on to Sakura. She pulled out a tea light candle, glued it in the center of the 'x', lit it, and passed it to Shino. He took it and reached into one of the bags for a small sheet of lantern paper. Unfolding it showed it to be cylindrical with no top or bottom and he fit four wooden bars equal length apart to form a rectangular prism, and he carefully set it in the notches of the 'x' before slipping it into the water.

"Sato Aki," he said.

The process repeated the same way, but Sakura spoke next.

"Matsumoto Zenzo," she said.

Then they do it again, and Kiba spoke.

"Suzuki Daichi," he said.

It took a few more cycles before Tenzou heard a familiar name—one he'd been made to forget through steel bars and needles and test tubes. 'Tenzou' was what he accepted himself as because he couldn't remember what he'd been called no matter how much he tried, but then he heard it fall from their lips and it was just like meeting an old friend. They said his name, and they set a lit lantern to float slowly down the weaving river.

 _Kiba's eyes turned to slits and Shino looked up. "We do," he said. "When we were looking at their files to figure out what was going on, what went wrong, we memorized their names," he stated shakily. "Why? Because they deserved to be remembered by someone. The least they could've gotten were graves or a mention in a solemn speech, but even then, they had none of that."_

Tenzou pushed off his mask and cried.

He cried because a team of genin fought to free him from the dark.

He cried because they let him remember his own name.

And he cried because they promised to remember even if he would forget it again.

::

Hiruzen sat in his office with one hand hovering over the crystal ball he had pillowed on his desk. His eyes filled with the sight of tens of glowing lanterns before he cast off the jutsu and closed his eyes.

He'd just punished those who did no wrong but bring up ugly truths that brought him to his knees. He silenced them, took their tongues, destroyed their loyalty and knew they would never look at him the same way ever again. Team Eight would be forever lost to him.

He should've killed them or locked them away.

But he set them free.

 _What did it mean to not go far enough?_

Hiruzen stood and pushed himself away from his desk, old bones creaking and old resolves breaking.

They told him he couldn't be the Hokage his people deserved.

And he couldn't take their lives because they were right.

::

Here's the url to the tumblr I've created to show all the fanart, covers, etc. I've ever received! (type with no spaces)

 _writer168. tumblr. com_


	21. Bonus: The Research Paper

_All quoted sentences can be found on the Naruto Wiki._

::

Orochimaru's a fuck and Hiruzen's a shitty Hokage. Here's why.

In the first paragraph of the Naruto Wikipedia it states, in the second sentence, that "with a life-ambition to learn all of the world's secrets, Orochimaru seeks immortality so that he might live all of the lives necessary to accomplish his task."—which means he wants to live long enough to conduct every single experiment he put his mind to. He "...[performs] unethical experiments on his fellow citizens for the sake of immortality…" which I still don't understand what the big deal is for villains in story lines. For Orochimaru, he's scared of death when he's surrounded by it every day and is also the one inflicting it on others whose time clearly hadn't come. In theory, it should've made him more comfortable with it, but I suppose people will always be complicated in the way one person will never fully understand another. He's scared that he's going to die, but he's selfish. Selfish, selfish, selfish. He had no right to kill for the sake of himself and I still don't know why he thought he was so entitled to do so.

After he's caught red-handed for his crimes, literally _red-handed_ , he escapes and makes one of his goals to"...[seek] the village's destruction in order to take revenge and demonstrate what he had learned." So instead of growing up in a profession that literally has 'death' in its hazard list, he decides to act like a child put in time out and seeks revenge because he got caught doing something he knew was wrong. Boo-hoo. Sorry they want to put your dumbass in prison because you thought kidnapping children was okay.

But, it turns out he's actually always been this way. "According to Tsunade, Orochimaru had a twisted personality even as a child." Uh, no red flags? No motion to put him under a psyche evaluation? No thought that 'hey, maybe this kid's unstable and maybe we shouldn't teach him how to kill people and break things so that he doesn't grow up to kill _our_ people and break _our_ things?' That's only another flaw in testament to Konoha's Shinobi System, or any other Shinobi System in general.

 _Why are children with obvious traumas and crippling shortcomings allowed to become shinobi in the first place?_

(Not to mention the whole child soldiers thing that encompasses the entirety of the _Naruto_ series, but that's a discussion for another time.)

"His sadistic attitude was presumably due to the death of his parents," says the wiki. So he's bitter. It's still not an excuse. "At some point after losing them, Orochimaru found a white snake near his parents' grave, with Hiruzen's explanation of it representing fortune and rebirth inspiring Orochimaru to study kinjutsu and obtain knowledge of all techniques, (Naruto Chapter 344, Page 16). Jiraiya theorised that Orochimaru went down this path in an attempt to forget his painful memories."

 _In an attempt to forget his painful memories._ So Hiruzen and Jiraiya and Tsunade, all people who had to be within close distance with Orochimaru whether they liked him or not, noticed all these things about him. They noticed he was suffering from the loss of his parents and they noticed that there was something very clearly wrong with him. If his memories were so painful, he should've gotten help, not been given a knife and a duty to protect his village at what, ten, twelve years old? He's still a kid, prodigy or not. And even if he's a genius, or someone whose "...talents, knowledge, and determination were considered by Hiruzen to be that of a prodigy seen only once in a generation." (Naruto Chapter 122, Page 7). Orochimaru was kept as a shinobi because he was rare and useful, his questionable sanity and obvious need for help pushed aside.

Orochimaru was a complex character, I'm not denying that, with "... his horror for Tsunade losing Nawaki and later shedding tears when she lost Dan, implies that Orochimaru grew to disdain the fragility of human life and how it affected those still living, which led him to desire immortality. To that end, the primary purpose of Orochimaru's human experimentation is to test what modifications the human body can endure and harness a subject's unique abilities for himself. Once accomplishing this goal, Orochimaru had hoped to be worthy of the title of "ultimate being", unable to die and able to achieve his secondary goal to learn every ninja technique in the world, which would normally take many lifetimes to obtain." But with being ever-so complex he developed a complex of his own, according to Sasuke: "... becoming cruel with any good he had as a member of Team Hiruzen gone, Orochimaru's agenda made him develop a god complex and valued himself while delighting in striking terror in his first impressions."

Now, I'm not excusing Orochimaru for his actions because he is, quite clearly, a fuck. He doesn't deserve to be redeemed, he doesn't deserve to be pitied, and he doesn't deserve the chances of freedom that he was given. He's smart enough and coherent enough to know what he's doing, why he's doing it, and how he's doing it, but part of the fault lies with Konoha and its people to not notice him going down that path in the first place.

He was once a child that lost everything. But then Konoha said fuck it and gave him the tools he needed to carry out his plans. Then you'd think they could've learned from that mistake and put up some protocols in place to prevent anyone else from becoming someone like him in the first place with, let's say, a new sector in the village that deals with traumatized children (who shouldn't have been put in the position to be traumatized in the first place) or make a series of tests to see if someone was emotionally and mentally stable enough to take the weight of their profession on their shoulders.

But you know, this is a corrupt government, so of course they don't.

Ex 1: Kakashi. Too many issues to list, caught up in the past, was in ANBU for over a decade and has a warped personality because of it. Solution: put him in charge of three impressionable children he has no business taking care of because he can barely take care of himself.

What the fuck.

Ex 2: Sasuke. Saw dead bodies of all his clan members, betrayed by the person he loved the most, grew up with an obsession to kill said person without regard to peers. Solution: put him under an emotionally brutalized teacher so he can learn how to control both his death eyes and the ability to gather lightning in his hands as his ultimate death move.

 _What the fuck._

But I digress, this is the Hiruzen-Orochimaru Predicament, not the What-The-Fuck-Was-Team-Seven Predicament, so we'll continue on.

"Some time after Team Hiruzen was disbanded, Orochimaru became an Anbu member and joined Root to work directly under Danzo Shimura, while also becoming a mentor to Anko Mitarashi." Okay, I'm not saying that's a bad idea, but _that's a fucking bad idea_. So Hiruzen (don't worry buddy, I'll get to your bullshit fuckery in a minute) just allowed his student that he _knows_ has issues to work under someone with even bigger issues? Issues plus issues is just more issues that he himself is going to have to deal with the consequences of later (oh BOY DOES HE) and that's okay? Well I guess the secret to committing treason is to be close to the Hokage because if you are, you get treated to favoritism and don't get as bad of a sentence you're supposed to receive.

(Did Sasuke even get punished for his actions?)

Okay, so if this whole Orochimaru and Danzo thing goes well (it doesn't) and it somehow doesn't ruin Konoha (it does), certainly it couldn't get worse, could it?

"While Orochimaru's ambition did include becoming the Fourth Hokage, he intended to use the title for his own agenda." (Naruto Chapter 121, Page 7)

Excuse me. What?

"Though Hiruzen knew the potential evil his former pupil had in him, he hoped to stir Orochimaru from the path before slowly realizing that he was beyond anyone's help." (Naruto Chapter 122, Page 7)

Get quicker on the fucking uptake. You're not just a regular shinobi, you're the Hokage.

"When Hiruzen finally named Minato Namikaze his successor, Orochimaru saw no more reason to remain in Konoha and began to be less discreet with his actions. (Naruto Chapter 116, Page 3) This led to his experimentation on Hashirama Senju's DNA with sixty children he kidnapped to recreate the First's Wood Release, having help from Danzo. (Naruto Shippuden Episode 351)"

Let me try to break this down, because even this is starting to make my brain hurt a bit. First, Hiruzen approves (re: allows) Orochimaru to be taken under Danzo, the rat of a human being and leader of the absolutely illegal Root organization. Second, even then he still hoped that he could make Orochimaru his successor. The Fourth Hokage.

 _Hiruzen wanted to make Orochimaru the Fourth Hokage._

You're fucking kidding me, right?

Third, once Minato becomes Hokage instead, Orochimaru was able to experiment on sixty children he kidnapped with Danzo's help because he gave even less of a fuck now, if it was even possible.

"Orochimaru performed various experiments on his prisoners, some being fellow Konoha shinobi he kidnapped. He used them as human guinea pigs to develop techniques that would grant him immortality, the end result being Living Corpse Reincarnation. [...] Unable to enter Sage Mode because of the fragility of his host body, Orochimaru instead developed an alternate method of harnessing his senjutsu chakra through cursed seals, which he tested on Anko and several others before eventually using the finalised versions on Kimimaro and the Sound Four."

Orochimaru has the moral compass of a potato and the empathy of a bag of shit, but miraculously, I'm not as upset with him as I am with Hiruzen. Because you know, of course the rabbit hole just gets fucking deeper and deeper.

Enter: Hiruzen. A useless, spineless, fool who shouldn't have been a Hokage in the first place.

Hiruzen is by no means a pushover in terms of being a regular force shinobi. He's powerful, extremely so if he earned the nickname the 'God of Shinobi' (how fucking presumptuous) and he's a force to be trifled with out on the field. "Hiruzen was part of the first generation of ninja produced by Konoha and he, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane were placed under the tutelage of Tobirama Senju," says the wiki. "Hiruzen early on displayed prodigious talent in the ninja arts—" ah, the plight of the prodigy, here again— "earning him additional training from Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage (Naruto Chapter 119, Page 14); at the same time, Danzo became jealous of Hiruzen's skills and started a one-sided rivalry in effort to surpass him."

(Will we ever be free of the Naruto-Sasuke conflict narrative? Like, ever?)

"In the anime, Hiruzen permitted Danzō to create Root - a more ruthless subdivision of the Anbu under Danzō's exclusive control - shortly after he became Hokage in order to balance the shortcomings of his empathetic rule. For years he had ignored Root's questionable foreign ops, its abduction of children, and the actions it took against Konoha personnel, Hiruzen included." (Naruto Shippuden Episode 351)

Wait, wait, wait.

You've got to be shitting me.

Fine. Here's where I start to get real pissed off.

Root is an organization created by Danzo to cater to Danzo's whims and to carry out missions that Danzo deems is fit to support Konoha. After all, one of their core values is that Root operatives are "the unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth" (Naruto Chapter 285, Page 12). That sounds suspiciously like the words of a Kage trying to do the best for their village. I'm not saying he's a great guy because he has as much sense as his right eye (which he doesn't use), but he's the balance to Hiruzen's empathetic negligence.

And man, what negligence that was.

For one, Hiruzen permitted children to be kidnapped. Children, to be stolen from their homes in order for Root to have their operatives. These operatives would then have a cursed seal imprinted on their tongues so they could never incriminate Danzo or the organization they were forced to be a part of (Naruto Chapter 452, Pages 8-9). Not only did he rob these kids of their families and childhoods, but he made it his goal to rid their emotions, sense of sentiment, and emotional attachment (Naruto Chapter 303, Page 9). Danzo didn't want people to work under him, he wanted shells that would never question him.

"Each member had a codename; even the members themselves apparently did not know their original names," the wiki states.

What was a person, in essence, when they didn't even have a name to call themselves by? That's the first thing a person is given right after they take their first breath of millions, and these children don't even have that.

Hiruzen allowed all of this because of his 'shortcomings'. Empathetic, he was described as. But I find it hard to believe that an empathetic man can sit back and watch people lose their lives because he didn't know how to toughen up.

He's not empathetic, he's a coward.

And anyone who disagrees with me having read this far can fight me.

"Hiruzen led Konoha's forces through the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars; in the anime, his choosing to end the Third Shinobi World War by signing a peace treaty with Iwagakure despite the losses Konoha suffered incensed Danzō, prompting Hiruzen to step down as Hokage against the village's protests." (Naruto Shippuden Episode 349). There's a lot going on there, so let's pick that statement apart.

Konoha faced Iwa in the Third Shinobi World War. I won't get into what it was about, but this was the same time period that Obito had been 'killed' and Team Minato had been scarred for life. Hiruzen had enough of losing his shinobi to the enemy forces (many had died), so he proposed a peace treaty so the fighting could finally come to a hold. Danzo, understandably, was pissed and his view of the action could be summed up in two questions: Why should we propose a peace treaty when we're the ones suffering the losses? Why are you holding up the white flag in surrender when you're not doing what it takes to win?

Danzo brought up good points so Hiruzen stepped down despite the will of the people, marking two mistakes. One: he listened to Danzo who has no Hokage authority but is allowed to act like he has it in the first place. Two: he didn't listen to the people, those he should be serving, and ultimately lets them down in a way they never understand because all they've ever seen was a facade.

But Danzo isn't the only person he has troubles with. As detailed in the first three pages of this paper, Orochimaru was one of his main failures. "Hiruzen had long hoped that Orochimaru would succeed him as Hokage but, despite his best efforts, he could never convince him of the Will of Fire: that Konoha was a family that the Hokage had to risk everything to keep safe." (Naruto Chapter 121, Page 7)

Let me reiterate: _**Hiruzen wanted to make Orochimaru the Fourth Hokage.**_ It's never said how many shinobi there are in Konoha or how many elites and Anbu operate within the village, but I think it's safe to assume there are at least ten other people more qualified for the position besides Orochimaru. Orochimaru, before his defection, was a Root member who worked under Danzo and suffered extensive trauma that didn't help him grow as a character. You're telling me he's qualified to be even considered as a Kage?

Low standards.

(Makes sense why Sasuke gets referred to as the "Supporting Kage" to Naruto's reign despite never being there for his family, having a list of crimes he's never punished for, and wanting to destroy Konoha for pinning his brother as a scapegoat after killing his brother and learning the truth from someone who's supposed to be dead. Did I get that right?

What the fuck Sasuke's wiki states he "...decides to return to Konoha and dedicates his life to help protect the village and its inhabitants…"

What a fucking trainwreck. I'd make a research paper for how much I hate his narrative if I was writing about him.)

Next, Hiruzen readily believes in the Will of Fire, that he has to protect Konoha because the village is a family, and who was he if he wasn't one to keep his family safe? Which he doesn't. Not in the slightest. Because if the head of a family allowed its children to be kidnapped and used for the 'greater good', I guarantee that person would've been arrested and jailed under normal circumstances. He denied his very philosophy the minute he allowed Danzo to create Root, so he had no right to spew this ideology that he very clearly never followed himself.

He also denies the Will of Fire by creating another main failure: the hate surrounding Naruto.

"Minato did not have time to tell Hiruzen how the Nine-Tails had escaped, instead using the final moments of his life to ask Konoha, via Hiruzen, to think of Naruto as a hero who saved the village and not the container of the monster that killed so many. Hiruzen did so, but the villagers proved unable to follow Minato's wishes, prompting Hiruzen, now the village's Hokage once more, to outlaw any mention of the Nine-Tails, an effort to protect Naruto from their misguided hate." (Naruto Chapter 2, Page 13)

Minato wanted to see his son as a hero. Fine, makes sense. But the villagers then create a mob mentality and begin to hate the child for being the embodiment of a monster who's killed so many, or so they believe, so Hiruzen outlaws the Nine-Tails to 'protect' Naruto. Protect? Ever since the first chapter of the book, the first episode of the series, we see that Naruto gets treated like absolute shit for something he had no control over. You can outlaw a name but you can't outlaw a feeling, leaving Naruto the receiving end of physical and emotional abuse from people he's sworn to protect as a functioning shinobi of Konoha.

Outlawing anything about the Nine-Tails did _nothing_. Hiruzen saw, and he did _nothing_ in return.

(My blood pressure is rising. I hate this but I'll be damned if I stop now.)

"He also gave Naruto his mother's surname in order to hide his relation to Minato from Minato's enemies." (Naruto Chapter 440, Page 5)

Fuck you, Hiruzen. The first major villain that ever showed in the series was a pair of Kiri shinobi, then the entire Sand village, then your old student. Hiding Naruto's true heritage from Minato's heritage? Try hiding Sasuke's heritage from the Uchiha's old enemies, how about that? It's because of Sasuke's heritage too that gets him fucked over more times than he can count.

Did you even think that maybe, Naruto could've gotten even an ounce of credit and motivation knowing he was the son of a Kage? Or maybe tell someone the truth.

But instead, Hiruzen added Naruto's name to the list of the other children he'd failed and betrayed.

Here's the real kicker, though.

"Hiruzen was dismayed not only by Orochimaru's role or that he was experimenting on those he kidnapped, but also his reasons: to create an Eternal Youth and Immortality Technique. He attempted to apprehend Orochimaru, but could not bring himself to strike down his favourite student and allowed him to escape." (Naruto Chapter 122, Page 7)

That's it. The Third Hokage is cancelled. Take it back. I don't want it.

You're fucking telling me that after everything he knows Orochimaru's done and after everything he's allowed Danzo to do, he throws away the one thing he could've done to at least try and redeem himself? He _lets_ Orochimaru _go_?

Let's draw a coherent timeline of fuckery, shall we? At least one that's compatible in terms of _Hoshigaki_.

1\. The First Shinobi World War: Hiruzen is prodigious and trains under the First Hokage; Danzo is jealous.

2\. During the Second Shinobi World War: Team Hiruzen. Orochimaru is noted as twisted and the seed of immortality is planted in his head because of Hiruzen.

3\. The Beginning of the Third Hokage's Tenure: Danzo is permitted to create Root.

4\. The End of the Third Shinobi World War: Hiruzen steps down due to Danzo's anger and appoints Minato after discovering Orochimaru would never change.

5\. The Beginning of the Fourth Hokage's Tenure: Orochimaru stops caring about being subtle about his experiments and enlists Danzo's help to kidnap sixty children to try and fuse them with Hashirama's cells. Hiruzen catches him red-handed, but lets him go because he lacks the will to kill his old student. Orochimaru swears vengeance.

6\. After the Fourth Dies: Hiruzen outlaws any mention of the Nine-Tails and changes Naruto's last name.

"Hiruzen is a firm believer in the Will of Fire, which holds that all the people of Konoha are a family and that the Hokage is chiefly responsible for that family's well-being."

Intending to do the right thing isn't enough.

"Throughout his tenure, Hiruzen lives up to the Will of Fire by being available for Konoha's villagers and shinobi during their time of need, making decisions to the betterment of as many people as possible, and providing his wisdom and guidance whenever he can."

Words instead of actions isn't enough.

"His delicate, thoughtful approach to not only issues within the village but also his interactions with foreign powers has given Hiruzen the reputation of being soft, something the Konoha Council spends much of its time trying to rectify."

Being a delicate shinobi isn't enough.

"Nevertheless, Hiruzen's kind and pacifist ways are widely valued by Konoha's residents and even his rival Kage, and for those reasons his eventual death is regretted by many."

Kindness in a time of child soldiers isn't enough.

"However, Hiruzen was not entirely for his softness as he allowed Danzō to form an Anbu faction of his own, to handle the dark side of Konoha's actions."

Having someone else do the dirty work for you instead of owning up to it yourself isn't enough.

Orochimaru is an irredeemable villain and Hiruzen's view of the 'greater good' hurt his people more than he could've ever hoped to help them.

That's the Hiruzen-Orochimaru Predicament.

(And really, this all kind of sounds like the Voldemort-Dumbledore dilemma, doesn't it?)

::

 ** _Winter_ _break is over now so I won't be as good as updating as I have been with these last few chapters, but I'll try my best!_**

 ** _Thanks for sticking with me, everyone!_**


	22. Be Wary

"Wait."

Shino stopped in the threshold of the house with his hand hovered over the door knob when he looked over his shoulder, and Shibi sighed. His son had started looking so... _tired_ lately and wasn't home as often as he used to. When he came home after meetings or fulfilling his duties as clan head, his boy wouldn't be home until the following afternoon after that day's practice in clothes he was starting to recognize more easily as both Sakura's and Kiba's. And even then, Shino would be gone two days in a row. Sometimes three. It would only be right for him to grow concerned with each instance. "Come here for a moment, please."

Shino shucked off his sandals and approached his father. Shibi inspected him like he expected to find some sort of wound or physical discomfort that caused his son to be so exhausted, but nothing. Just a the slight steep to his shoulders and something he couldn't quite understand lurking behind dark lenses.

"How much have you excelled in your training?"

Shino's brow furrowed at the question. "We're getting better an an appropriate rate," he answered. "There have been no fallbacks as far as I'm concerned, and Kurenai-sensei is a commendable teacher."

Shibi peered closer at him. "And your teammates? Are they treating you well?"

"Of course," Shino replied instantly, affronted his father would suggest otherwise. Shibi blinked at the offense taken—protectiveness? Of others outside the clan? Amazing! "Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru are remarkable in their own rights."

The clan head was pretty sure that was Shino-speak for _'they're my friends and I love them'_. Perhaps he was worried over nothing and his friends were as good as he believed them to be. True they'd only been over to the house once, but it also had been to help Shino to his room when he couldn't walk.

At least they were helping him out of his shell and getting him to be happier, especially after Torune.

But even then, why did he still look so tired?

He was curious to know. So he asked.

"Because training's been quite... arduous. Nothing to be concerned of, Father, I assure you," Shino said.

"If you're sure," he relented. Still, he found his son's words hard to believe, but he let it go. His eyes drifted to the kitchen counter and to the package residing on it, and suddenly, he remembered the other reason he called his son over. "Something came for you earlier, no sender. My insects haven't detected anything malicious."

He watched apprehension and a sliver of fear enter Shino's face, and he saddened. Fear? For what? From whom? And why wouldn't Shino talk to him about it?

Shino carefully made his way to the box and, with slightly shaking hands, untied the string around it and unwrapped the parcel.

Inside was a glass box peppered with small holes with three live butterflies inside, each with crystal clear wings lined with burnt orange.

"The _Greto Oto_. Can carry nearly forty times its own weight and travel thirteen kilometers an hour for short intervals," Shibi noted with interest. "A splendid gift, and a rare one at that. Have you an idea who sent it?"

Shino stared at the butterflies for a few distrustful seconds before meeting his father's eyes. "I... have absolutely no idea."

::

Kiba stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. It was Tuesday, a chakra training day, four days since that _fucker_ —

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He held it for a few seconds. He breathed out, bracing himself against the sink as he looked back in the mirror. Opening his mouth wide, he stuck his tongue out and looked at the jet black seal that glared mockingly back at him. It was ridiculous and far enough back that people who didn't know of its existence wouldn't notice it if he talked.

 _He sealed us,_ he thought angrily. _Danzo sealed us and all the Hokage did was watch._

He stuck his tongue back in his mouth and bared his teeth.

Konoha was slowly starting to become a village he wasn't will to fight for and he didn't even have the freedom to tell people why.

Kiba snarled. " _Goddammit_!"

A fist met glass and his knuckles bled. He looked at his reflection again— _reflections_ now with all the cracks and pieces that fell to his feet. "Shit. Mom's gonna flip."

He left the bathroom to the pull the first aid kit from under his bed and grabbed the rubbing alcohol and bandages. Akamaru lifted his head from the bed and whined, the faint smell of blood filling his nose.

"Don't worry, it's just a scratch," he sighed. Akamaru barked. "Seriously, I meant it. Just got pissed for a minute."

Akamaru set his head back down with a pout and lolled his tongue out of his mouth. Kiba spied the black on his partner's tongue and felt some of his earlier anger boil up and the puppy, who just remembered the ramifications of his and his team's actions, quickly pulled his tongue back in his mouth and peered at his best friend.

Kiba stayed sitting on the floor, wiping away the blood and bandaging his knuckles as his fangs glinted in the sunlight. Akamaru barked lowly, and he raised his eyes.

"I'm still lookin'," he huffed. "Seals are hard and I'm still a genin, so I don't have clearance on much."

A bark.

"Yeah, well I guess that never really stopped us before," he admitted. He stored the rubbing alcohol and rolls of bandages back in the kit before shoving it under his bed. "But Fortitude's an asshole and Absolute Truth doesn't care so we can't say shit. Bastards."

Kiba stood and grabbed his torso armor with the intent to click it into place, but as he turned towards his window, he saw it open a crack with an innocent looking package sitting on the window sill. Akamaru shot to his feet as armor clattered onto the floor.

"Brat!" his mother called from downstairs. "You dyin' up there?!"

"Just dropped somethin'!" he called back, eyes unmoving from the package. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied in simple twine. When he moved closer and sniffed, there was no scent to be picked up.

Odd.

"This could kill me," he whispered as he took the package in his hands. He ignored Akamaru's bark of indignation and untied it, letting the wrappings fall to the ground. "Jerky?" He lifted the bags of meat into the air. His mouth watered at the sight, but he resisted the urge to dig in as he set it down on his cluttered desk. He closed the window, sure to lock it this time, and looked at his partner. "Who do you think would sneak up here and give us gifts?"

Akamaru whimpered. He didn't know either.

::

"Eh, you like stuff like that, Sakura-chan? You must be super smart!" Naruto exclaimed. He and Sakura sat at one of the park tables in the early morning light an hour before each of their training sessions officially began. Breakfast bentos lay on the table in front of them both, Naruto's nearly finished and Sakura's half-eaten as she stared blankly at the two trivia game books in her free hand. Beside her were balled twine and crumpled brown packaging paper.

"Trivia isn't a bad way to pass the hours," she said. She took a piece of broccoli from her bento as her eyes cut to the surrounding trees. No one. "What do you do in your free time?"

Her tongue no longer burned, but the fire in her anger did. The more time she spent with Naruto the angrier she became; not _at_ him but _for_ him, because part of her wanted him to know the love of a parent. He could've been adopted and loved when his parents couldn't have the chance to, but even then he was dutifully denied the chance. He and over a hundred dead children had been refused a childhood with a family because one man didn't have the will to say no.

"I like gardening," he said. She raised a brow.

"You like taking care of plants when you can barely take care of yourself?"

"Hey!"

She stuck the broccoli into his protesting mouth. "Eat your vegetables," she said in the face of his disgust, "or you'll stay shorter than me forever."

She and her team made a promise during their research that the world would know their truths one day.

They were silenced now.

 _But they'd be damned if they were silenced forever._

::

"What?" Kisame asked. He set down the kunai he was sharpening in an inn nestled on the border of Fire Country. Leader had called upon his return, unfortunately, so he had no time to check in on his pup one last time before the exams started. "What do you mean you couldn't see her?"

Kasumi sighed in her chakra-made puddle. "I can't follow her everywhere, you know. There's certain places I can't be if there's too many other elite chakra signatures around, so I couldn't tail her to Orochimaru's lab, and I was only able to check up on her when she went to the little red bridge on Konoha's training grounds."

An odd sadness trailed onto the little shark's face, and it made him tilt his head. "What's wrong?"

"Pink... she's a good kid. Her and her team. They made a memorial, you know? Lit a candle for every missing child in those files you gave them and sent lanterns down a river," she informed him. Kisame couldn't help but smile for the heart his pup held. "The three of them memorized all their names. _All_ of them. I didn't think people could ever care so much for something they had absolutely nothing to do with."

He thought back to when they used to visit Saki's grave together, how they'd always buy flowers from that same flower shop, how she'd stand there and listen to him talk and talk about her late mother even though she could recite every word that came out of his mouth when he did so.

"But I think there's something else."

Kisame started to get a feeling in his chest that he _hated_. "What? What happened? Is she hurt? Did—"

"Hold on, Blue, I'm only speculating," she interrupted. Kasumi ducked down in the puddle for a moment before coming back up. "It's just—I think something went down during the time I couldn't watch over her. I don't know if it was a good something or a bad something, but they were tired. Exhausted. Kind of like you when you defected Kiri."

His eyes turned to ice. "I left because Suikazan Fuguki was a two-faced shit who betrayed the village I was loyal to," he growled. "To this day Kiri thinks I've killed an innocent man and since then, my loyalty had nowhere to go; I was disillusioned, _I didn't know my place in this world_." Kisame looked away from his summon and paced the small room. It was only morning outside, but he could already tell it was going to be a long, long day. "Then I met Saki. Then we had Sakura."

"Blue—"

"There's not a damn thing I wouldn't do for her, Kasumi-san. She turned out a better person than I ever was and I'm not gonna let anyone ruin that." But even if it was morning, it was still dark in the room. He wouldn't draw open the curtains; his paranoia wouldn't allow it. "She's out there lookin' for her own truth. There's gonna be obstacles, consequences, punishments. I'm not gonna stop her from learning them." He turned around and the summon saw the pure malevolence on his face. "But if there's ever, _ever_ the chance Konoha unjustly wrongs her—" The hazard in his eyes served as an omen, like the grim standing in the doorway of the dying—"it will _burn_."

Kasumi nodded. "If anything comes up, I'll let you know." She prepared herself to resume her watchdog duties, but her summoner held up a hand.

"Aside from her looking tired, did she look healthy? Is she doing good? She's not having other problems?"

"Yes, yes, and none that I could sense."

He sat back on the bed and picked up the kunai he'd been sharpening earlier. "Then you don't have to keep an eye on her anymore. For now, at least," he said. "I'll make sure Orochimaru doesn't lay a damn finger on her in the exams, then it'll be another few years 'til I let myself see her again. Any longer and I'll cave in and take her back with me." He breathed out a wary sigh. "But, I can't. The Akatsuki won't have her."

Kasumi drooped slightly. She didn't understand how Kisame could love his pup so much but punish himself so thoroughly, could pledge himself to never harm a child but go on a killing spree to his heart's content—the two contradictions in a man who lived for no one but wanted nothing more than to see another life fully lived.

"Alright," she agreed. "'Til next time, Blue."

::

There was something wrong with her team.

Well, there wasn't anything overtly noticeable, but Kurenai had been with them long enough to know there was something _off_.

She observed them as they tried to successfully complete a new jutsu she introduced them to a day before: the Hiding in the Surface Technique, a C-ranked supplementary jutsu that allowed the user to phase through their surroundings, avoid attacks, and travel undetected. Technically, they should be at least chuunin to learn the technique, but it was essential for a team that aimed to infiltrate.

Besides, who was going to tell her how to train _her_ team?

Kiba channeled too much chakra into his technique and ended up sinking waist deep into the ground after he took his first step. He yelped in rage. Akamaru started to dig him out.

"Are you guys just gonna stand there and watch?" he sputtered at his two amused teammates. Shino raised an eyebrow.

"Frankly, I expected you to sink down farther."

"You— _C'mere_! I'll kick your ass!"

"Ah, yes. Threatened by half a body. Terrifying."

Sakura snorted and pressed a first to her mouth.

For all who didn't know them as well as Kurenai did, they appeared as if they were any other group of rookie genin: happy, carefree, yet untainted from the true meaning of a shinobi. She knew better, though. How could she not? Not after Sakura's five year long deception, not after Shino's espionage, not after Kiba's unexpected wit.

And especially not after their learning of the Kyuubi.

A shinobi's duty had always been to look 'underneath the underneath'. Shino, all his dry comments aside, was far too tired than he should be. She knew that he started to spend an increasing amount of time with his team as they were often seen with each other in public, but his level of exhaustion didn't match the others. And it didn't have to be an exhaustion of the physical sort, either. The Aburame were never renowned for physical prowess compared to clans like the Inuzuka and the Akimichi, and even now he hadn't expressed the interest or proficiency of being a hard-hitter of the team. So his problems lay in either the mental or emotional sort.

But what could it have been? His father was a decent man and despite being the only other in a two person household, surely he'd filled the void of loneliness by gaining another family through his team.

What happened to him? And if it wasn't a what, then _who_?

Shino approached a tree and tried the jutsu out for himself. Cautious, he stuck his arm through the bark instead of his whole body and, pleased, noticed that he was able to push his arm all the way through the trunk. But his pleasantness fell when he pulled on his arm.

He pulled again. Then sighed heavily. And set his head against the wood as Kiba's boisterous laughter rang through the training grounds.

"I guess you _wood-_ n't mind sticking around, huh?" Kiba grinned. He was freed from mid-thigh onward and a few more minutes of struggle would have him back onto his feet. "Guess it sucks, since you gotta hear me _bark-_ ing with laughter." Sakura stopped practicing the jutsu and pressed both hands to her mouth. "How are you gonna re- _tree_ -ve your arm now?"

Shino's eyebrow began to twitch relentlessly. The Inuzuka eventually pulled himself out of the dirt brandished a wider, cheekier grin. "C'mon, Shino, I'm just _pollen_ your leg."

Sakura's shoulders started to shake as Shino looked over his shoulder. He stared long, hard, bitterly, before his mouth curled into a sneer. "I don't be- _leaf_ you."

She couldn't take it anymore. Sakura collapsed onto her knees and exploded into laughter, clutching her sides as a few stray tears streamed down her face. Just the sight of her got Kiba to laugh too—he'd never seen her laugh so hard before. Who knew stupid puns were all it took to get her like that?

"Why're you laughing?" he called out to her. "We're just being _frond-_ ly."

Her laughter started to mix with snorts, and she only laughed louder because of it. Shino coughed to hide his own amusement threatening to bubble up and looked back to the tree and pulled. Nothing. He sighed for the second time.

Kurenai chuckled at her team's antics before quietly ducking back into her observations. Kiba, while as carefree as he always was, still exuded something she couldn't quite understand. There was no shortage or his laughter or his jokes or his recklessness, but his anger is something she didn't want to bolster more than it needed to. Anger was good sometimes—it flooded the veins with feeling and pumped adrenaline through the blood, but too much of anything was never good.

Maybe it wasn't that Kiba was somehow quicker to anger, but he might be holding on to a type of anger he refused to rid of. That in itself was a terribly unhealthy habit to pick up. Anger, in small, spread-out doses, was what she expected. A long, slow simmer only thickened into repulsive paste.

She would to get to the bottom of that anger one way or another; she would not let him be one of those who died because of it.

Could his anger somehow be linked to Shino's occasional dissociative manner? Maybe on his behalf?

Sakura's laughter subsided when Kiba managed to stick himself into the ground once more, this time ending up wedged in the dirt all the way up to his shoulders. Akamaru whined and slumped down, dirt in his fur and with no inclination of digging up his partner for the second time.

She decided to try the jutsu a second time. When she did, she ran unhesitatingly through one of the larger boulders with her arms crossed over her face as her only protection. She phased through triumphantly, her immensely impressive chakra control shining through, and went to settle her hand on the rock.

But her hand fell through and she frowned. She did it again. And again. And again.

And once she figured how to release the jutsu, she'd sunken ankle-deep into the ground.

Sakura had always been unconventional, and Kurenai had yet to decipher what actions constituted a problem or which ones were just naturally a part of her personality. Her logic and reasoning were odd and were starting to rub off on the rest of her team, but Kurenai was sure she could attribute that to her upbringing. After all, Kiri-esque clothing choice and hailing from Ame? There was already a high chance that her parents, whoever they were, had either been criminals or expatriates that absconded form Kiri. It would explain a great deal and lay out the foundation of her skills and unspoken-of past.

Oddities aside, she'd been more aware lately. Paranoid, even. There was the constant glance-over-the-shoulder and the consistent survey or her surroundings. Again, did it link to Shino's shift? To Kiba's shift? Three consecutive shifts with three different people within a close proximity to each other spelled trouble. Or, the trouble they might've landed themselves into.

Concern rose as she watched her team—her wonderful, deceptive, promising team—laugh, joke, and train like it had been any other day.

Before, they told her about the Kyuubi. Not outright, but it was something.

What was so dangerous now that they couldn't tell her straight out?

Her red-painted lips pursed together thoughtfully. She would stay observing for the time being, watching even more carefully than she had before, and would try to pick out the consequences of whatever they'd done.

::

After two weeks of painstaking consideration, Kurenai donned the conclusion that whatever Team Eight landed in had run down far deeper than she could've ever imagined and it all lead down to one simple question.

 _How was Hokage-sama involved?_

It started as a subtle sort of thing. When she and the team headed to the missions office for another D-rank mission to add their files at the beginning of her two week observation period, the Sandaime was there assisting and talking genially with the genin that came by. He asked how their time as shinobi was, if there were any complications, if they needed help.

 _When she ushered her team ahead of her, their eyes raised towards the Hokage in a manner that was almost eerie._

 _They were silent, tense, stone._

 _The Hokage merely smiled down at them in return, but Kurenai could spot the slight strain in the wrinkles of his face. "Hello, Team Eight," he greeted them. "How have you all been faring so far?"_

 _Shino answered first, his tone flat and uncaring. "Well."_

 _"Ah, I see. Anything that needs to be brought to my attention?"_

 _Kiba's jaw clenched as he ground his teeth together. "No."_

 _"And the three of you don't need help on anything?"_

 _Sakura crossed her arms and stared with the iciness of a mid-winter's day. "We're not the ones that need help," she said. Kurenai heard the confused murmurs of the other chuunin in the room but kept her eyes on the Sandaime through the peculiar interaction of him and her team. While gauging his reactions, she saw a bit of something—_ shame? _—before he smiled down at them in that grandfatherly way._

 _"I'll keep that in mind. Now, your mission."_

Four missions were assigned to them in the span of those two weeks, and she couldn't help but think that they were purposefully assigned to her team. They all required more than a day to complete and were all stationed outside the village, almost as if...

Kurenai's eyes widened a fraction.

Almost as if the Hokage was trying to keep them out of the village.

Team Eight had the gift of being able to conduct thorough research, she knew that much. They wouldn't have learned of the Kyuubi and Naruto's true heritage in two days otherwise, and they must've been very good at it to scrounge up information from public-sanctioned library texts and the people of the village and come to the startlingly correct conclusion.

During the short amounts of time between missions that she'd actually been allowed to touch down on Konoha soil—which ranged between barely a day to two—she decided to spend the time trying to puzzle out what she wasn't understanding.

So after the first of four missions assigned, she went to Aburame Shibi and asked him how everything was with his son.

 _"I see. So you've noticed it to," he said. Kurenai ran her eyes over the interior of the main Aburame Household, taking in the sleek wood so dark it was nearly black and thanked the clan head who graciously poured her a cup of tea. "I suppose it's only natural, seeing that you're his sensei, after all. Tell me, is he as tired out there as he is if I see him at home?"_

 _"If his tiredness includes bags under his eyes and acting as if nothing's wrong when there is, then yes," she replied. Her eyes narrowed. "Aburame-sama, if I may ask, what do you mean by_ if _you see him at home?"_

 _She couldn't see behind his trademarked glasses, but his melancholy seeped through his blank mask. "Shino's taken to staying at Sakura-san's place every so often; I assume the same with Kiba-san as well."_

 _"So he... doesn't come home anymore?"_

 _"If it makes him more comfortable, I have no quarrel. He's expressed a favorable opinion of his team," he said, then frowned. "I don't know what's caused it, though. Nothing has changed in this house for years, but right after he was assigned to his team..." Realizing what he sounded like, he shook his head. "I apologize. It wasn't my intention to slight you or the other genin. I'm only worried about his well being."_

As am I. _"I understand," said Kurenai. "Is there anything you could think of that could've had him end up this way?"_

 _Shibi pondered for a moment and stirred his tea. His stirring slowed as he looked down at the silver spoon, and his frown grew more pronounced. "There's only one topic I know of that could truly upset him." She leaned forward curiously as he set his spoon beside his cup. "Yuuhi-san, let me tell you about my nephew, Torune."_

Shibi's tale hadn't been an inspiring one. She didn't know much about councilman Danzo other than he was a member of the council, but Shibi told her the man had accosted his nephew to be employed under a "Konoha-approved" organization and hadn't heard of him since. Shino was crushed when he learned of it; Torune hadn't even been given the chance to say goodbye.

 _His voices dipped low as if divulging a terrible secret. "I've never told him this because of the guilt I know he'd feel," he said. "But Danzo originally wanted to take Shino. Torune wouldn't see it through, so he offered himself up to take his place."_

After the second mission, she went to the Inuzuka household. Tsume wasn't in, so instead she headed to the veterinary clinic and spoke to the Head Medic Inuzuka Hana.

 _"Kiba?" Hana repeated. She peeled off her gloves and tossed them into the nearest trash can. "I mean, yeah, he's been actin' kinda off lately, but I don't think too much of it. He eats as much as he normally does, still hates getting up early, keeps making his dumb jokes."_

 _"Has he been... angrier? At all?"_

 _"Not that I can think of."_

 _One of the Haimaru brothers in the staff room barked and Hana looked in his direction. "That_ did _happen, didn't it..." she murmured. She turned back to Kurenai. "Kiba smashed a bathroom mirror to shit 'bout a week ago. It was bad, like, glass on the ground, blood on his knuckles bad. Mom freaked out and asked what happened and he just said he lost his temper. He had to weed out the whole backyard and clean the kitchen top to bottom for that one."_

Kurenai remembered his bandaged hand and remembered asking where he sustained such an injury, as she'd never seen him make it during training. He'd only shrugged and claimed he burned his hand on accident when some oil splattered in the kitchen.

He lied, but that wasn't what concerned her. There was no need to lie if he simply lost his temper, and if he lost his temper, he would've used the same excuse with her as he did with his family. Kiba's lie was inconsistent, and that made everything even more suspicious.

What was Kiba truly lying about and what had the Hokage done to them?

A sickening feeling churned in her stomach like grog made from nothing palatable. Her team's chilling attitude towards the Sandaime and his ignorant reactions to it would only make sense if there was something to hide. But what did he do? And what did the team do to deserve it?

Why wasn't she informed?

Why wasn't she _there_ to protect them?

 _"Sensei?"_

 _Kurenai stopped her retreat from the clinic and turned. "Yes?"_

 _Hana stood with her hands tucked in the pockets of her vet's coat with a gleam of worry in her eyes. "If you're stopping by to check with your team's families, you should know about Sakura, right?"_

 _Right. Sakura's living situation. "I do. Is there something you're concerned of?"_

 _"It's just that Sakura used to come over a lot when she and Kiba were in the Academy. Kind of a cold kid, but she lightened up a lot the longer we knew her." Hana glanced to the side uncomfortably. "I knew she wouldn't come by as much since getting a new team and a new place and all, but if something's up with Kiba, then there's definitely something up with her too."_

After the third mission, Kurenai stood in Sakura's apartment after bypassing an impressive standard of traps. She was pleased and not at all shocked to find that the traps extended to Uzumaki Naruto's apartment next door, but her delight was cut short with what she found inside Sakura's apartment. Or, lack thereof.

 _It was like walking into a house showing instead of stepping into an actual home. The kitchen was clean and impersonal; no stains aside from what must have already been there for years, and the plastic table only added on to a less inviting feeling. There was nothing in the hallway save for the marks of wear from owners' past. Once she entered the single bedroom, she was greeted to the sight of plain white walls, a neat desk, and four scrolls posted over a neatly made bed._

 _She drew close to the scrolls, recognizing them as Sakura's handwriting._

 _The first:_ Remember what you witnessed here. This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world.

 _Her brows pulled together. What Sakura witnessed? From the look of it, it was like she witnessed a death, a murder, or something along the likes of that. Either way, the implications were less than savory._

 _The second:_ Did you understand that, girl? You're _their_ homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?

 _That read even worse than the last. Kurenai didn't know the 'they', but she knew how much an asset was worth to those who had one. Sakura's home life must have been rougher than she'd previously imagined. She certainly had talent, but enough to say she should be_ used _? But then again, Amegakure had always been filled with both refugees and undesirables since being torn by numerous wars that weren't even theirs to begin with._

 _The third:_ Because I'm not a good man.

 _What were these words? What were these... philosophies—maxims that Sakura forced herself to look at everyday? Was she following these words? As a reminder? These were terrible!_

 _And the last:_ You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all.

 _Kurenai's jaw locked. Now she had some idea why Sakura pushed herself so hard during practice._

After the fourth and final mission in that two week period, she found herself sitting in her apartment with cold tea, her students' files, and a replaying of her findings. Nothing odd had been formally documented, but they were so obviously at ends with the Hokage. Their attitudes were changing, but nothing could be noted in their files. Something deeper was running to places she couldn't see, and if she didn't find out soon, things were going to get worse. She was sure of it.

Kurenai stood from her seat as she sensed a presence in front of her door. She opened it to see a chuunin office worker posed to knock, but quickly gathered himself and offered her a polite nod. "Yuuhi-san, Hokage-sama would like to see you for a mission briefing."

A thread of annoyance rose in her core and she pushed it away before it could weave to the surface. She smiled. "Thank you. I'll be there immediately."

The chuunin took his leave and shut the door, a small scowl taking her lips. Another mission? Her team deserved a break, and even if they'd been assigned a chain of simple D-ranks, it didn't mean that they'd be happy about getting shoved out of the village with every assignment. This was getting ridiculous! The Chuunin Exams were in a month and a half and if she didn't have the time to train them, what was she going to do?

She sighed and slipped on her sandals before flickering out of the apartment. For now, she would keep her assumptions close to her chest. All she had were her observations and the reasoning that lead to it. Until she found concrete evidence, she would act as if she wasn't suspicious to begin with.

When she arrived at the office, there was only the Sandaime, and he greeted her with a kind smile. "Good morning, Kurenai-san."

"Hokage-sama," she returned with a respectful bow. "You called me here for a mission?"

"Ah, yes." He held up a scroll. "A C-rank for you and Team Eight, actually. It's a follow up to the B-rank Team Seven undertook and recently returned from." Kurenai tried to keep her stance lax; everyone had heard of that disastrous mission when they returned a mere two days ago. All members had been hospitalized and signed up for a psyche evaluation. "It's nothing remotely close to the magnitude of the source mission, and you'll simply be checking around the village to see if any of Gato's men had been unaccounted for. Team Seven left before any of the post-fighting cleanup could be handled."

Inwardly, her hackles rose. If she remembered correctly, that mission had taken place in—

"Wave Country is your destination and shouldn't take you more than two weeks to complete," he continued. "Your team must be tired of all the D-ranks they've been assigned, so a C-rank should be a wonderful experience for them."

She got the feeling that refusing wasn't an option.

"I'm... sure they'll appreciate the opportunity," she said carefully as she took the scroll into her hands. "After this mission, may I request we receive fewer assignments? I would like to take the next month to train my team for the upcoming Chuunin Exams."

"You intend to sign them up?" he questioned. The Sandaime takes a puff of his pipe. "Would that be wise, Kurenai-san? They're only rookies, after all. Perhaps they aren't prepared for such a daunting task."

She blinked in surprise. "Hokage-sama, I have faith in my team. Their progress has come in leaps and bounds, and I'm positive that they'll prove themselves worthy to hold the chuunin title in this village."

Kurenai expected him to stare at her for a long while before smiling and conceding, just as he'd always done. He was always one to spot sincerity and trusted his shinobi whenever they made a passionate claim that runs straight through their minds and hearts. She believes in her team. She knows they'll succeed. They're ready; they've always been ready.

But his expression didn't change. In fact, it might have grown colder. "I implore you to reconsider, Kurenai-san. No one is ever truly ready for what comes with the promotion of rank."

"They're qualified. _More_ than qualified," she insisted.

"There will be tough competitors this time around. Maybe next year they'll be ready."

"They're ready now!"

"They might not be able to shoulder the responsibility, nor the knowledge, that comes with the title should they succeed."

" _Hokage-sama_ —"

"Team Eight sets out tomorrow at 1300 hours," the Hokage stated firmly. She swallowed and held her arms at her sides; the hard look in his eyes made no room for argument. "You are dismissed, Kurenai-san."

With pressed lips, she bowed and took leave of the office. Once the door closed behind her, her expression turned grim.

That in there was no coincidence.

::

Sakura, Shino, and Kiba lingered at the gates with packs strapped to their person and identical looking brown packages that fit in the palms of their hands. They exchanged wary glances.

"So I'm not dreamin', right?" Kiba asked. "This is, like, the third thing we've all gotten over the last two and a half weeks. The first I got was jerky and the second was a pack of real good quality senbon. You guys sure you aren't messing around by pretendin' to get yourself something?"

"It serves me no purpose to gift myself," Shino replied as he frowned at his package. He received butterflies and a case of fire-repellent sealant for his weapons. "Why? Because it's wasteful and I see no purpose in wrapping a gift. If they're going to find out what it is anyways, then eliminate the packaging and hand them the item. There is no benefit otherwise."

Kiba shook his head. "Wow. You must love surprise parties, huh?"

"I don't like surprises."

"And I'm not surprised you said that."

Sakura rolled the package in her hands. Trivia books and a small jar of bruise salve had been the gifts she'd received, and she had yet to discover the reason behind them. What they were getting weren't simple trinkets, but items that catered to their individual likes and interests. Would Shibi-sama have done this? Or Hana-san or Tsume-sama? Maybe even Kurenai-sensei?

She opened her package and her teammates peered at her hands where they saw two bottles: one filled with soldier pills and the other with blood replenishing pills. One of her eyebrows lifted. "These are only made on request," she said. "Or if the maker is a medic-nin. Either way, I think it's safe to say whoever we're dealing with is at least a jounin."

"So maybe Kurenai-sensei, Shibi-sama, or my mom," Kiba said. He opened his next and found a set of sixteen makibishi caltrops. "Okay, maybe not my mom. No one in the clan uses these because of how much damage they do to dog paws if they're lost. Like, they're useful and all, so it's gotta be Kurenai-sama or Shibi-sama. For real."

Shino's was a pack of smoke bombs. He stared at them for a few unnerving moments and thought to each of the presents they'd received. They've only been getting them after The Incident, and there's only one person who was bound to show them that much kindness. "Do you suppose... Cat has been leaving these for us?"

Akamaru, bundled in front of Kiba's jacket, let out a quiet whine. Kiba patted his head and lowered his voice. "Hey, is it okay for us to be talking about him out here?"

"It's only the neighborhood stray, Kiba. Remember when we met the cat a few weeks ago?" Sakura said. She shared a pointed look with them to get them on her wavelength. "The last time we saw the cat was when he stopped by my place after training a while back. He thanked us for the fish we gave him."

Shino tucked the smoke bombs in his coat as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "We only gave him one fish and he's brought us a total of nine mice. Why would he keep coming back? He already said thank you. We don't need anything else."

"Maybe he's trying to show us how thankful he is?" suggested Kiba. "He really doesn't need to, 'specially when we were at the river that night."

"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but cats always do as they please," Shino replied. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back'? Perhaps he desires more fish."

"Whether he wants it or not, he knows we can't get anymore," Sakura said, her eyes shifting to green ice. The air around them dampened. "We're not welcome at the fish markets anymore. He knows that."

::

Kurenai tilted her head from her place behind a tree as she heightened her senses and listened in on the group of genin. She only appeared when Sakura mentioned a neighborhood cat, which wasn't such an odd claim. Konoha was crawling with strays.

But it soon became obvious that they weren't talking about cats at all.

 _We're not welcome._

Her fists clenched. What was going on?

She drew in a calm breath, painted a smile on her face, and appeared before her team in a small puff of smoke. "Good afternoon! Are we all ready to head out?" she asked. All the former tension they had rapidly faded as Kiba grinned and slung an arm over Shino's and Sakura's shoulders.

"We've been ready for days," he said. "Me an' Akamaru have never been outside of Fire Country before!"

"Neither have I," Shino commented. He looked to Kiba's other side. "Sakura, have you been in any place other than here and Ame?"

She shook her head. "Not really. With Ame as it is, there are multiple security checks you need to pass both leaving and coming into the village. It's a hassle to move too much."

Kurenai understood her sentiment. Amegakure was highly secretive with a lake surrounding the entirety of the village, not unlike how a moat was to a castle. Rumor was that shinobi who hailed from there were notoriously short-tempered and were a hub for both assassinations and the creation of new techniques. Aside from the refugee and criminal populace, that is. Though harboring a heavy isolationist policy and having near-impenetrable security measures, the only real thing Konoha knew about them was that they were a lower shinobi village with a mysterious leader that fostered trade with Kusagakure, Tanigakure, and Tsuchigumo.

"Well, now's only the beginning, You'll go to many different places throughout your careers as shinobi," said Kurenai. _If Hokage-sama ever approved of their progress_. "Let's set off, everyone! The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back to start your training for the Chuunin Exams!"

And as the three took the lead down the path towards Wave, she watched them go with promise in her eyes and her back towards Konoha.

 _Even if there are targets drawn on your backs, I won't let anyone get the chance to aim. I am your sensei, and I will be your shield._

 _Not even the Hokage can take my duty away from you._

::

Fanart has been made by _ladyizo_ on tumblr! Check out their blog and the writer168 fanart blog!


	23. Allegiances

Jashin was a religion for those who had no reason to kill. Hidan knew this and he didn't care, preaching otherwise anyway. Who was going to stop him? Who was going to tell him what he was doing was wrong? Utter death and destruction lay in the path of the shinobi regardless, so there was no use for him to try and convince himself the opposite.

He disrespected when he could because now was the time to do so. His mouth bled obscenities because there was no use in being polite when he'd never know anyone forever.

But because the only eternity was death, it was the one thing he wouldn't hold contempt for. The dead did nothing to deserve his misgivings, so in return, he gave them none.

A lone body traversed the graveyard, burning incense in one hand and holding prayer beads in the other.

"Pray for what you'll never have," Hidan murmured to himself. It was so early in the morning that the skies still exploded with darkness, not a single soul around. Not even Kisame, who frequented the graveyard more than he did. The only difference between them was that everyone new Kisame came here, but no one knew Hidan did. "Pray for the dead, pray for death. Pray for weakness, pray for a last breath."

There was no rain on Sundays. It was the only time he could let the smell of yew fill the air.

"Pray for suffering, pray for pain. Pray for the withering of the humane."

He went down another line of gravestones, not paying much mind to the names. They're the names of people he'll never meet and never know; their names would do them no justice. He was only there to pray.

What would knowing their names achieve?

"Pray for those you will never love, pray for those you have never lost."

He happened upon a grave he'd never taken notice of before. It was rather old, maybe ten years older or more. Hidan narrowed his eyes and crouched. "Pray for the fools who thought they should."

 _Hoshigaki Saki,_ it read. _A kind nurse, a loving wife, and a mother who could have been._

An amused grin tilted his lips. "Pray for the fools who learned the cost."

::

Nothing happened on the way to Wave, and while that was a comforting sentiment, it didn't sit well in Kurenai's stomach. After witnessing the Hokage's strange behavior and her team's secrecy, it wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination for some 'unfortunate happenstance' to occur during their time away from the village.

Accidents were a staple in the shinobi lifestyle. Be it poison, an ambush, or an illness, anything could happen at any time. 'Ambush' seemed like the more likely candidate in this situation. The Wave mission was already supposed to be taken care of. With the country successfully linked to the mainland and Gato eradicated, there wasn't supposed to be a 'cleanup' portion of the mission.

The Hokage was starting to become startlingly transparent. Being out of the village meant her team having less free time, not being able to be promoted meant less access to the village's resources, and being disturbingly vague and defensive about everything made Kurenai wonder how a man hailed as the "God of Shinobi" could grow so paranoid of three genin who had yet to even _learn_ their elemental types.

"Hooooly shit," Kiba whistled. Kurenai blinked out of her thoughts and looked up as a shadow casted over her head. At the forefront of the bridge to the island was an arching gateway, the sign painted stylistically in large black font.

 _The Great Naruto Bridge_

"He gets a bridge named after him and I had to spend half of yesterday stuck in the ground? What the hell?!" he exclaimed. A scowl touched his lips, but there was no real malice. And if Kurenai had to say anything about it, she'd note there was a shimmer of satisfaction in his eyes. "Sensei! Can I get that obstacle course back home named after me?"

She chuckled. "I don't see why not."

"We'll name it 'Inuzuka Kiba's Great Demise'," Shino added dryly. "Why? You still haven't completed it in under two hours."

"Neither have you!"

"Which is true, but I'm not the one gallivanting around asking to put my name on things."

"That's not a bad name," Sakura said thoughtfully. Kiba stared at her in utmost betrayal and she rolled her eyes. "Don't look at me like that. You're the one who fell from the net and broke part of the structure."

"I said don't bring it up again! Gah! You guys are the _worst_!"

Akamaru barked.

"That doesn't— _stop encouraging them_!"

They were children. Love filled, justice seeking, right doing children. When they found that the fox was sealed in a boy their age, they didn't run. One found reason to protect him, the other found reason to be proud, and she imagined the last was the same. They didn't bend to the insistent prejudice of the people and sought to find the truth for themselves. There were... things she couldn't say because of the law that barred her, but they found a way around it.

They found an entire story, and they—

Halfway down walking the bridge, she stopped walking.

When they learned of the fox, they found a tragedy of a boy who lost his parents to a demon he never wanted to have only to suffer the repercussions. A boy cursed the day he was born. In two days, they shadowed, researched, plucked information from an oblivious crowd.

Her fear for them had always been the consequences of them going too far out of their depth.

... What if it already happened?

Sakura looked over her shoulder, seeing Kurenai some ways away from them. "Sensei?"

She shook her head and looked to her student, offering a shaky smile and a weak admission of being alright before catching up to them. Sakura eyed her, knowing full well she was the farthest from being alright, but nodded slightly and turned her attention back to her team.

::

Wave had always been a place of foggy skies and a poor population, but whatever Team Seven had done must've been a world of good for there to be sunny, bright skies and smiles all around. Much of the townspeople looked skinnier than they should be, but at the sight of stockers filling markets and people carrying bags of groceries back home, it was a process in improvement. The country was getting better slowly, but steadily.

Shino's eyes narrowed from behind his glasses. "This doesn't appear as a situation where remnants of Gato's men have decided to stay and continue their terrorism. Why? There is a distinct lack of... disruption."

"What? So the Hokage just sent us out here for no reason?" Kiba huffed. An uncomfortable silence suddenly permeates the air, one Kurenai only hopes to wish away, and his eyes grew wide. "He did, didn't he? Of course he—"

Sakura's hand shot out to cover his mouth. "We haven't looked around yet," she stated firmly. "A good place to start is with the bridge builder, Tazuna. Let's speak with him before making any assumptions." She side-eyed her teacher, _who she knew_ had caught on to the 'of course' part of Kiba's accusation, then dropped her hand, assumed a blank mask, and turned around. "Shall we go?"

Kurenai met her cold, even gaze and nodded. "Tazuna-san's address was listed in the mission scroll. We'll head there immediately."

And when they did, nothing but begrudging disappointment could be taken from it.

"Gato's men? Yeah, those two bodyguards he had with 'im all the time stayed behind and, you know, kidnapped Inari and Akane and a buncha other kids, but Naruto and his team stopped them before any harm could be done," Tazuna said as he scratched the back of his head. "That's the last of 'em, really. Don't you shinobi have, like, mission reports or something or other? That seems kinda important for you all to know."

A low growl emitted from Kiba's throat before he swallowed it down and looked away.

Shino stared up unblinkingly from behind his glasses. "It is a precautionary measure," he replied in monotone. The assurance didn't sound real, even to his ears, but Tazuna didn't know any better and nodded along. "We'll be around for a few more days to make sure no others come to disturb you. Why? Wave deserves to be the thriving country it was meant to. You need not worry."

"If you could spread the word, please? We don't want anyone to be alarmed at the sight of a team of shinobi scouring your village," inputted Sakura. Tazuna nodded again.

"'Course. Good luck on your search!"

When Team Eight made their retreat, Kurenai chanced a glance at her three students who'd fallen out of their bantering mood from earlier and who had now taken to a deep, unsettling silence.

Curiosity won her over. "Do you three believe we've been sent on a wild good chase?"

Kiba and Akamaru startled and Shino tensed, but Sakura kept a calm face and looked up. "What do you mean? There are probably some rogues of the Gato Company somewhere, sensei. It wouldn't hurt to look."

Kurenai sighed and stopped. Slowly, her team turned to face her, but stared everywhere but straight in her eye. "You know what I mean."

"... We're just following the mission, sensei," Shino said.

"I know what the mission details," she answered softly. He tensed further and bowed his head. "But I'm asking for your own personal opinions. Don't think I haven't noticed all the missions we've been sent on outside the village—and yours and Hokage-sama's less than friendly reception of each other." Even Kiba fully looked away from her that time, and Akamaru's tail dropped to hang between his legs. "You've all been running circles around me, thinking I haven't sensed a problem. I can't _help_ you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Sakura was the first to raise her head, her eyes frosty but wary all the same. "There's nothing to say."

There was _literally_ nothing to say about their situation, but an unknowing Kurenai sighed again. "I'll let it go for now, but I expect something of an answer soon. I'm not the only one worried."

They went around the edges of the small port city two times, three times over. There was nothing, and in turn, it was nothing short of frustrating. Maybe it hadn't been so vocal before, but now they all knew what they were doing was a waste of time.

After a patrol of fruitful nothing, they stayed at the only inn around and split into two rooms, Kurenai in one and her students in the other. She'd offered them each their own rooms, or at least one of them to stay with her to keep it even, but they were adamant at sticking at each other's sides.

They were closer than a normal team, Kiba and Sakura even more so, but when they said they would stay in the same room they, again, wouldn't look her in the eyes.

She exhaled softly and took a seat at the edge of the bed. It was small with a simple cream cover and the wall she was staring at was as thin as the sheets she sat on, but she heard nothing of next door.

They put up seals, she knew. Silencer seals. When did they learn how to use those?

She shook her head and glanced at the pack at her feet. Silencers, secrets, and seals.

Why would they not confide in her?

::

"... Let's have a change in topic," Sakura suggested. The three of them had been sitting in silence for the past ten minutes, shaken that Kurenai had actually decided to say something and berating themselves on the fact that they dared to hope for anything different. "We never talked about your test results, did we, Kiba?"

Kiba, who was staring down at a scroll in his lap on the floor with his back against the bed, snapped his head up at the mention of his name. "Wha?"

"Reading material outside of our research has never ensnared your attention so thusly before," Shino asked as he peered at the paper from his spot seated at the corner of the bed. He blinked at the ink strokes that met his eyes, half he didn't even know how to begin to understand. "... Perhaps we don't have to go over those results."

Sakura got up from the stool in the corner of the room and looked at the scroll. And her eyes widened a fraction.

On it in Kiba's handwriting was a mostly completed seal array, or at least an array that she recognized as one that had sequences that weren't fully locked. Fifteen more seconds of staring and she had yet to decipher what exactly the seal was for, and she was all the more impressed by it.

"That's... awesome."

"What does it do?" Shino asked, awe underlying his tone.

"Oh, uh... Hold on," said Kiba. He dug into his pack and pulled out four ready-made strips of paper, each with a short sequence on it. Akamaru took it into his jaw and happily stuck each one to each wall, and once the fourth was placed, a sudden shimmer of blue light engulfed the room before going back to normal. Stunned, Sakura and Shino slowly turned back to a smug looking Kiba. "Pretty cool, huh? I mean, silencer seals aren't meant to be flashy or anything, but nobody said nothin' about adding another layer to make sure it actually works, right?"

Sakura and Shino shared an incredulous glance before she took a small step forward. "You learned how to make seals? And layer them? And draw up an _entire scroll array_? Just when we found out you could complete a rubik's cube first try was when you told us you never liked puzzles. When did you start getting interested?"

"Since the snake bastard," he answered bluntly as he turned the scroll around for them to get a better look. "When we were digging around for info, there was a thing about how he used seals to control some of the people he experimented on, remember?"

Shino nodded. "You grew curious?"

"Yeah, well, uh, I was reading it and all and thought it was pretty easy." He raised his hands in defense at his teammate's blank stares. "H-Hey, they weren't _that_ easy when I really started getting into it, okay! I never knew drawing pictures and making phrases and stuff would be so hard, but it's kind of like that rubik's cube. All I gotta do is line it up and have each part match."

Sakura couldn't stop the smile that curled her lips. Seals—and fuuinjutsu in general—were one of the most complicated masteries a shinobi could fall into, hence why there were so few of them. It was also the reason why nearly the entirety of the Uzumaki Clan had been destroyed, and why people all across the nations were terrified of what they could do. Hundreds of Seal Masters congregating in one place? There was an immense power there.

And here Kiba was, talking about it like it really was a puzzle to pass the time. She rubbed her forehead and puffed out a laugh. "You're really something else, Kiba."

"Thanks," he grinned. "But this one's kinda tricky. I want to get an intermediate one like this all good before moving on to the more expert ones." Shino's brain stuttered for a second. This was intermediate? "So this is just a storage scroll I'm starting from scratch, only I'm making it, uh, waterproof, fireproof, blood-sealed? Something like that. There's a few sequences here I'm trying to finish and once I do that, I should have another fully-functioning storage scroll. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Amazing, more like." Sakura shook her head. "What are the more expert things you're going to try out?"

Her stared at her unblinkingly. "Seal reversals."

And just like that, the mood plummeted once more.

"We already looked," Shino quietly mentioned, his gaze moving to the floor. "There's nothing to find and seals aren't meant to be reversed, only broken. And the only way to reverse a seal implemented directly by the caster is to deplete their entire chakra stores; to kill them. We can't kill the councilman. You know that. We know that."

Can't, not won't. Because they're only genin and they were no match for someone like him.

Especially since the Hokage would never be on their side.

"So what?! It's treason for us but it's just another day for them?! It's not right!"

"I'm not saying it's right—"

"Then you should be doing something about it, dammit!"

"And have it end up just like last time?" Shino snapped. " _We did what was right and look what happened! We made things worse!_ "

Akamaru whined softly and padded over to Sakura, butting at her leg and looking up at her with a pitiful expression. She met his gaze, sighed softly, and took him into her arms and held him close as he buried his face into the crook of her elbow. She walked over to the window and peered out just as the voices raised behind her.

With the city being so small, there weren't too many people out so late. Just a few shops were closing down and the street lights were beginning to flicker out in succession.

"—because that fucking _Hokage_ —"

Akamaru hated it when Shino and Kiba argued, but Sakura learned to simply resign herself to the side and waited for them to calm down before they started to mutter apologies to each other. Ever since The Incident they'd been falling into random arguments always on the same thing, not all the time, but enough. She didn't blame them.

"—job to protect the village—"

"Which he didn't do!"

" _I know_!"

In the Akatsuki, they never yelled.

Yelling was a sign of being too controlled by anger, and the one who was doing the yelling was always looked upon as the weaker one. She never remembered Konan-san ever getting angry, but then again, there was never a moment when there was any expression other than stoicism on her face.

Kakuzu-san always seemed angry. There was always a crease in his brow or a scowl beneath his mask, but his voice would always maintain its volume. Even with the inflection of impatience and animosity, there was never a shout. Never a roar. Anyone that made him mad enough to get the coldest of people to burn would have never lived to recount it.

"—but the seals—"

Sasori-san was never around enough for her to know the type of angry he got, but if him trying to kill her the first time they met meant anything, it was that his words were more or less his least favorite conduit for his rage.

Orochimaru's sickly smile never left his face, his tongue flickering with his smooth words and his chuckles taking place of where his screeches should be. She saw him just as sparsely as she saw Sasori-san, but if those two got along well enough to work together, then they were a nasty pair of scorpion, of snake; venom and poison.

Leader-sama, she knew, got angry, and Dad never let her outside on those days.

Did deafening thunder count as screams of fury?

"—that's why I'm saying we have to—"

Her eyes softened as she stared into the dark.

Dad never yelled. Never raised a hand. Never looked at her like he wasn't happy to see her.

The only person he was ever angry at was himself.

As Sakura stared into the darkness, she saw a faint glint in the distance. Metal. A pipe. The faint smile of a man raising it in her direction, then mockingly dragging it across his neck before grinning toothily and pointing it back towards her.

Her face dropped into a cold blankness, and she doesn't break eye contact with the strange man threatening her some buildings away. "Kiba. Shino. _Shut up_."

Her words were cold enough to form icicles and they quieted almost immediately. She only used that tone with the scathing comments she rarely dealt. The Sandaime was the recipient of such, and they didn't know if there was anyone else she would use it with.

They hurried to her side and followed her gaze to the man with the pipe, and then to the several other men that appeared behind him.

Akamaru's growls began as Shino reached up to adjust his glasses. "Ah, the first act. Do you suppose we've been sent to the chopping block this time?"

"We've been sent outside the village more times than we could count," Kiba huffed. "It's about damn time they actually started to do shit about it, you think? You sure _he_ sent them?"

"Our mission is to check to see if any of Gato's men are still terrorizing the community," Sakura said as she reached down to the pouch fastened around her thigh. "He'd jump at the chance to send people after us." She cocked her head to the side. "Do you think he's used his money to hire them, or do you think he's embezzling Konoha's funds?"

Kiba barked out a humorless laugh. "That's great, huh? Murder, abduction, embezzlement. And he'll never get blamed for any of it." He moved to unlock the windows, but Sakura's hand grasped his wrist. "Wh—"

"They'll be trying to kill us," she said simply. His brows furrowed.

"Yeah?"

She doesn't look over at him, but her grip tightens. "So you'll need to be willing to kill them as well."

Kiba's whole body twitched and his arm dropped. Shino searched her profile silently, looking for any cracks in her mask or tells in her pores before asking, "Have you ever killed before, Sakura?"

"No. But being the human shield of a slaughterer is something you never forget regardless of having a good memory."

She opened the window, ignoring the orange shimmer of a broken seal, and leapt out. After a few moments hesitation, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino followed.

And a mere ten seconds after that, the window next to theirs popped open and a lithe figure frantically went after them.

::

She saw the man in the window, but he didn't see her. He was too busy staring at the window beside her, making threatening gestures and trying to goad her team out. The silencers must've still been in place because she still heard nothing from next door, but she knew they couldn't be silent as the men multiplied and reacted.

She held onto a foolish hope her genin wouldn't go after them.

But then they soared down towards the band of men leading them out of the village, Sakura in the lead, Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru following some seconds after.

Kurenai barely managed to grab her kunai pouch from the nightstand before diving out her own window and making a mad dash in the direction they went.

 _'No way,'_ she thought. She kept her distance in her panic, but she was mildly surprised at how fast they moved and how they ventured deeper and deeper into the forest. People can't hear them there. No one would know if they lived or died this night. _'Why did you go after them? What are you thinking? Why didn't you inform me first? Nothing good will come out of charging towards your deaths!'_

She stopped on a tree branch and peered at the bubbling confrontation below. Her students stood on one side of the clearing and maybe twenty armed men stood opposite them, the leader bearing a red cloth tied around his eyes and his brown hair parted into four sections. He tipped his pipe at them, landing dead center at Sakura.

Kurenai resisted the urge to leap down—she had to wait. She needed to.

She hadn't a single clue what was going on, but her team did.

"Don't know why you bunch of kids have such a high hit on your head," the leader grinned. "Who cares though, right? Our contractor offered a lot of money— _a lot_ —to have your heads on a spike. Think you can spare us the trouble and slit your throats yourself? It'll make it easier for us."

Sakura stared at the offending weapon with a raised brow before meeting the leader's eyes. "You're Kusabi, aren't you? Head of a band of mercenaries who carry out low-ranking crimes and have the skill equivalent of a high genin to a low chuunin." Her eyes roamed over the group of mismatched misfits. "None of you are in the Bingo Book, so I assume—"

She suddenly went silent, eyes boring eerily into one of the men towards the back.

Kusabi blinked a few times before growling and taking a step forward. "You think you know everything, dontcha', you little bitch?"

"Please dissuade yourself from your crass insults," Shino commented lightly. A hoard of black insects swarmed from his sleeves and curled around his body, poised for attack. "Why? It's not in a jesting manner, so it's neither wanted nor appreciated."

"Another smartass, boss!" someone crowed. A low rumble of shouts entered the clearing as Kiba and Akamaru leaned forward, ready to pounce.

"You're only here because your _contractor_ ," Kiba spat, "is a spineless bastard! Come at us—unless you're scared!" He and Akamaru charged. " _Gatsuuga_!"

Two forms twisted at ferocious speeds, like twin tornadoes, and slammed into the ground so forcefully it broke the earth and sent the group scrambling into different directions. Sakura and Shino wasted no time diving straight into the chaos.

Shino decided to take down as many as he could, catching any unawares and knocking them down and surprising unsuspecting criminals with his seemingly endless sea of insects. Three men were downed. Then four. Then five.

Criminals like them never had formal shinobi training, or even informal, he noticed the more he fought. They were hired thugs with civilian backgrounds, probably, greedy with the thought of money from their 'contractor', most likely.

Distaste ran over the taste buds of Shino's tongue as he hit one of the assailants a little too forcefully, a little too much, a little too bitterly. A spray of blood stained his sleeve like a painting he would see at an art museum. His vision blurred for a moment at the sight.

He'd never killed before. The dead body at his feet was as still as a mannequin, but he couldn't stop thinking of the life it held before. Did that man have a family? A husband? A wife? A son? A daughter?

 _"So you'll need to be willing to kill them as well."_

But he could never say he'd never seen a dead body before the likes of the one bleeding into the soles of his sandals. He remembered the bones of that forgotten child and the note clutched in its fingers, wondering why their mother let them be taken by a monster with no reservation to others' lives.

He remembered the monster was still out there because of the dead man's contractor.

He remembered the contractor couldn't even watch as their tongues were branded for a right that was deemed wrong; a truth described as treason; a secret that killed more than a hundred innocent children.

Shino turned away from the body, and for a few breaths, guiltless.

 _'I will not die at the hands of a coward,'_ he thought. _'I will not accept death from someone who couldn't even do the job themselves. Until Sarutobi Hiruzen decides to bow out from behind his curtain of shame...'_

He pulled a handful of shuriken from his pouch and aimed at the vitals of an approaching opponent. "I will enact the best revenge," he stated.

He launched them.

"I will _live_."

::

They'd made a makeshift plan on their way there. A quick dissection of their enemy's movements resulted in their knowing that they were nothing but criminal scrap that acted in the civilian crime system. The leader was the strongest of them all, but was nothing notable according to Sakura. They would have no problem in their disposal.

Kiba had volunteered himself to be the distraction of their offense. They never had time to conduct true assignments on the team based on their skills and talents, but he and Akamaru had to release some steam. Send them scattering. Catch them off-guard.

So he and Akamaru pulled one of the flashiest moves his clan had to offer: Fang Passing Fang; _Gatsuuga_. After successfully breaking the formation at its core and knocking down a couple of thugs, his fingernails sharpened into claws as he singled out the weakest links.

As he turned mid-swipe, he wondered if this was what a shinobi was really like. His claws dripped with blood and air came in and out in shallow breaths, but he wasn't finished. There were about five more men not in Sakura's and Shino's vicinity, and he and Akamaru needed to take care of them before they decided to attack his teammates and ruin their flow and account of their surroundings.

But after those five and after they won, would they really be done? Would this ever end? Would they ever live normal lives afterwards and not be set up to be killed by the very village they were supposed to be loyal to?

Kiba's lips curled into a sneer as Akamaru's teeth dug into the back of one man's leg and he slashed his claws across his throat.

No.

Not when the councilman and his murdering, abducting, embezzling puppet were still around.

 _Shinobi aren't supposed to be the good guys. We kill, we steal, we lie._

Kurenai's grip tightened around the branch she was on as she saw a few angry tears drip down Kiba's face as he looked up at the sky and opened his mouth. "But I'll always fight for the truth even if it means _pissing you off_!" he howled. He launched towards another opponent—teeth bared, claws out.

Restraint was no longer an option.

::

Sakura employed a different approach when it came to her offense.

Shino and Kiba had already been given an insight to her past. Her father, her upbringing, what she was capable of—they had some clue.

But Kurenai had no idea until the moment she watched her student shove a kunai straight through the skull of someone in her way.

Kurenai stared at the blood splatters against the slight tan of Sakura's cheek as she retrieved her kunai and pushed the body towards the ground and away from her path. That same kunai went through another man's throat, slashes a different man's midsection, and was thrust up a fourth man's chin and came out through his tongue. The next man she came across was the one who caught her attention and who brandished a sword before him with a fearsome scowl even as cold sweat ran down the back of his neck.

He flinched as frigid green eyes stayed trained on his stolen weapon.

"Where did you get that?" she asked quietly. The sword, maybe even larger than her in its current unkempt state, glinted ominously in the moonlight. The man didn't answer and swung downward, but he was too slow. Of course. The sword was only to be wielded by masters of kenjutsu, and it was obvious by his weak grip and unsteady position that he was never meant to even touch its hilt.

And it was _insulting_.

Sakura easily leapt out of its way and swung her heel into the man's face, her heel digging into his cheekbone so hard that she heard the satisfying crunch of bone. He stumbled, but the sword was still in front of him.

His arms shook.

The sword was too heavy.

But he didn't let go.

It only angered her more.

"You don't know its history or its generation of wielders. You don't know what it can do, and you don't know what it means to be its owner," she seethed. Her kunai spun dangerously in her hand and Kurenai was left to think what a twelve year old had to know to be able to muster such a furious killing intent. But she sees the growing answer steaming off her skin in a simmer; truly offended and thoroughly provoked. "It has a name—all important swords do, and you dare use it in that _state_! Do you know the honor in your hands, or are you an idiot?!"

The man still didn't answer her and it was enough. She snapped and, with a speed unaccounted for, she cut the tendons in one of his legs and watched him fall with a startled cry and her fist met his face as he fell forward, red and mucous coating the back of her hand.

The sword slipped from his hands and fell to the ground with a light clatter.

"Kubikiribocho hails from the land of my ancestors," she said. She bent down and took its hilt, mustering her strength to raise it and set it against her shoulder. "And I'll become strong to become worthy enough to be its wielder."

Sakura looked around the clearing and noted that there were five more standing forms. Her, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and a quivering Kusabi with his pipe held vertically in his clammy grip. She took her time walking towards him, and so do the other, until they stood like the team they decided to be in front of a true definition of a coward.

They were only genin, and they'd been given no other choice but to be more than that.

"Y-You... ki-kid..." stammered Kusabi. Sakura's eyes narrowed as both her hands curled around Kubikiribocho's hilt.

"Sorry," she said. "I thought I was 'little bitch'."

She sliced downward and bisected Kusabi from his left collarbone to his right hip.

Kurenai witnessed, horrified, as two pieces of one body collapsed to the ground with a sickening squelch. The massive broadsword, chipped and cracked, suddenly absorbed the blood as it repairs and sharpens itself until its returned to an astoundingly immaculate condition.

 _'That sword belongs to the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist,'_ she realized. _'It has to be. And now it's in possession of one of my students.'_

Twenty-one dead bodies and it's over. They've taken care of themselves.

She appeared in front of them and a little ahead of Kusabi's pieces with her arms crossed and steel in her face.

She would no longer wait for answers.

::

Sakura had guessed Kurenai would trail them to the ensuing bloodbath, but she didn't know she would sit back and watch them take care of it alone. But Kurenai was both curious and cautious, prepared to jump in for them if anything got too out of hand but holding herself back enough to test her students in how they handled themselves when they fought an actual enemy.

She pulled Kubikiribocho towards her and barely managed to plant it in the dirt by her feet. She needed to bulk up physically, like Dad, if she wanted to be able to use it for longer than five minutes.

"There are _several_ things that have gone wrong here," Kurenai started. She glared down at Shino, Kiba, and Sakura individually, even at Akamaru who was held tightly in his partner's coat. "And there are even more things that you will be appropriately punished for upon our return to Konoha. Charging towards enemy forces without alerting your commander? Failing to assess the situation with your status as genin? Not creating a proper plan before engaging your enemy? A five-minute talk through without sitting down to work out all the bugs doesn't count! I taught you better than that!"

They winced and she tapped her bicep while her lips pursed, but her anger faltered slightly at the sight of their bowed heads.

Blood stained their clothes, dripped down their skin, clotted their hair.

And even then, she sidestepped Kusabi and took them all into her arms, squeezing them like they'd all be gone tomorrow. "Next time you _will_ tell me when something like this happens. You all aren't alone and I'll never allow you to be. Do you understand?"

They were frozen in her embrace, and it doesn't take long for them to thaw. She heard each of their quiet admissions and felt their slight nods before she lets them go and takes a step backwards. Kiba's eyes were glassy, Shino's hidden in his high collar, and Sakura's arms were pressed to her sides as a few stray hairs escaped her high bun.

Kurenai straightened. "Now," she said. "You three are familiar with the contractor that sent these men after you. Who was it?"

A quiet panic filled the air as her students exchanged glances and Akamaru ducked down farther into the recesses of his partner's jacket. Sakura, ever the first to sort her thoughts in order, repeated her earlier sentiment. "There's nothing to say."

Kurenai narrowed her eyes. "Then write it."

"W-We can't write it either," Kiba interjected. He held her unwavering stare until he could no longer bear it and muttered a curse beneath his breath before his shoulders slumped. "Sensei, how much do you know about seals?"

Her heart started to hammer in beat with the foreboding feeling that begins to take over her chest. "A little more than the basics."

"Okay, well, so, uh… I've gotten a little more interested in seals recently, right? Because there's been some… incidents... and we've—I've, uh, done some deeper research on… on Cursed Seals," he said. The air darkens, and Kurenai didn't want to bear it. "And, yeah, Cursed Seals are a little more complicated than the normal stuff, but intent always stays the same no matter what you do."

Red eyes flickered to both Sakura and Shino who've grown increasingly cold and uncomfortable—respectively—before she wearily trailed back to Kiba. "Intent?"

"When people make seals, their, uh, intent gets put into whatever they make. So let's say someone makes a seal. That makes people… not be able… to… talk about certain things? And that seal can paralyze you if you try to say anything… incriminating about the, uh, caster?"

" _What?_ "

"A-And even if the seal's description says we can't talk about it, it doesn't mean just talking. For a seal like that, the caster would make it so that no forms of communication could ever be used. Like, the placement of the seal is all… metaphorical… and stuff… but it just really means you're stuck with what you know and can't tell nobody any different."

He drifted off near the end of his explanation, bitter and resentful, before falling into silence. He met his teacher's gaze for a brief moment and saw her hurt, her sympathy, her disbelief, and he and Akamaru opened their mouths to expose their tongues.

Two sets of three solid black lines and two broken ones meet her troubled stare and she holds a hand to her mouth to contain her shock. Kurenai turned to her other students, and they pause before opening their mouths as well, revealing mirror seals burned into the backs of pink muscle.

The puzzle started to piece itself together.

Shino's fatigue. Kiba's rage. Sakura's apathy.

 _The Hokage's actions._

Kurenai's hands balled into fists.

When she was a little girl, she knew she wanted to be a shinobi for her village. She promised to be its sword, defending it to her last dying breath and letting nothing get in her way. Konoha was her heart and home, a fire that burned for what was right and the flame that scorched all that was wrong.

It was never supposed to sear its people. It was never supposed to ignite hatred.

She drew in a deep breath. But then again, she supposed, fire was always dangerous, and it burned her eyes so she could only walk a tightrope with blind faith.

But no more.

"You don't deserve what they've done to you," she stated fiercely. She stood tall in the midst of bodies and blood, three children— _children_ —staring at her like it was the first time they'd ever seen her. "You are my team—not Konoha's, not the Hokage's but _mine_. Days, weeks, years, decades, I don't care, but I _will_ do whatever it takes to see you all prosper despite the hand you were forcibly dealt, Hiruzen Sarutobi be _damned_!"

Her eyes glowed like magma ready to erupt.

"This seal is not your end. It never will be." Kurenai extended her fist to the center of the group like she'd seen them do a thousand times before she watched as their eyes round. "And I swear on my life, Team Eight: Sakura, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Akamaru, that I will never abandon you—not even in my death!"

She only had to wait a full heartbeat before three fists and a paw move to the center of the group and bumped against her knuckles. Kurenai peered at their faces and at their unguarded joy and she saddened, knowing that she might be one of the few, if any, that would be willing to throw themselves into the fray for their sake.

Once, her village held her utmost loyalty.

But sometimes there were more important people to love.

::

A week later, Tazuna noted that the shinobi from Konoha had left Wave empty-handed.

And much later, closer to a whole year, he would find a burial site of twenty-one meticulously dug graves amidst rust-colored grass.

::

He should've known someone would have caught on to his covert behavior one way or another. It was Monday and the rain was back so he didn't bring his incense with him, but when he arrived with a conical hat on his head and prayer beads pressed against his palm, Kisame was kneeling in front of a grave while arranging flowers in front of it.

"Ah, shit," Hidan groaned. "The fuck are you doing out here so damn early?"

Kisame shrugged a shoulder. He had no hat or cloak, letting the rain drench his clothes and seep deep into his skin. "Same thing you do all the time, 'cept I only have one grave I really worry about." He paused and thought to his little pup who went out of her way to learn the names of dead strangers which prompted him to look down the line of gravestones. Cloth brushed against his back as a scrutinizing face peered over his shoulder.

"So this Hoshigaki Saki—was she really your wife? Like, no fucking joke?"

"No joke. Married her when I was fifteen."

"Jashin fuck—seriously?! The fuck's wrong with you, gettin' a bitch right after your balls fucking dropped?"

"... I wanted a family. Wanted to get married, wanted to raise a kid," Kisame answered honestly, trying to calm himself down and letting the insults rolls down his arms like the rain. "I was selfish."

"Tch, damn right you were. It's a sin for you to think you deserved something like that." He pointed down. "And there it says, 'mother'. What happened to your fuckin' kid?"

Beady black eyes turned towards the sky. "You don't see her around, do you?"

"Ha!" Hidan barked, swinging his beads in small circles. "Serves you right, fucker. Shouldn't even've had some dumbfuck kid—"

He didn't even finish his sentence when he's pulled into the air and his brain took a few second to catch up. There was nothing particularly malicious about Kisame's expression, but he wasn't smiling and there was an emptiness to his eyes.

"What the f—"

"I don't care if you worship your god, kill whoever you want, or cuss at my face. You're you and that's none of my business." Hidan narrowed his eyes as sharp teeth glinted his way. "Insult my wife or my kid again," Kisame said as he jerked his chin at the line of graves," and I'll fucking _gut_ you faster than you can say Jashin. Got it?"

Hidan glowered. "Put me down, asswipe."

The hand on his collar tightens and he started to choke.

" _Got it_?"

"Fuck—Fine! _Fine_! I got it, shit!"

He dropped back down.

"Glad we came to an understanding." Kisame gazed back down to the grave at his feet, quiet for a few moments before meeting a set of annoyed magenta. "I'll be on my way—me an' Itachi-san have a mission North, so we'll be gone a couple of weeks. I won't be botherin' you." Then his eyebrow quirked up. "Mind taking care of Saki's grave while I'm gone?"

Hidan rolled his eyes as he rubbed at his neck. "Like I'd ever do anything for you, dumbfuck. Ask someone who gives a damn shit."

Kisame chuckled to himself like their previous confrontation hadn't happened. "Can't say I never tried." He walked away from the site, soaked to the core and his skin looking just a bit more blue. "See you 'round, Zombie Number Two."

He would never find out that then was the start of a new sort of ritual—where a single silver prayer bead would lay beneath Hoshigaki Saki's name each day he was gone on business for years and years to come, because when he returned, the grave would be just as he'd left it.

Only stone remained. That, rain, and the faint, fading scent of yew.


	24. Motion

Shino sat in his room, his bag still packed and his fingers tapping against the wood of his desk. They just returned from their mission, making it to the gates at eleven in the evening. It was too late to report to the Hokage, so they agreed to meet at his office first thing tomorrow morning.

"And if you could all come over to my place afterwards, I'd like to congratulate you on your first successful mission outside of Fire Country!" Kurenai had said with a kind smile.

 _And if you could all come over to my place, I'd like to talk about our next steps so you won't be caught again_ , had been what she meant.

It surprised him that Kurenai trusted them in less than half a year than the village she'd been serving her whole life. It was quite the dedication she had for her students, and the heavy proclamation against the Hokage struck a particularly deep chord in him; he was sure it was like with Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru as well. Besides Kurenai they had no supporters in their corner, and there really wasn't much they could do to bring others to their side without activating the seal or being accused of treason.

He glanced to the glass enclosure filled with crystal clear butterflies. It sat on his nightstand, tended to by his father when he wasn't home.

Shino's brows furrowed.

Cat had some sort of an acquaintanceship with them, didn't he? He gifted them with things he believed they would enjoy and use to their greatest extent, and clearly they did. Yet he'd never revealed himself to them or stepped up as the one leaving them the gifts even though they were positive it _was_ him.

And now that he thought about it, they'd never even seen Cat since he'd thanked them.

 _'I wonder if he ever went to the memorial.'_

A few insects trickled out of his shirt and crawled onto his desk. His small bursts of chakra had them retrace phrases winding about his mind and it made him think; insects were such versatile beings, especially at the beck and call of a shinobi. Kikaichu like his were born and raised in his body, wore his chakra like a second exoskeleton, were able to transmit chakra over vast distances, and could mimic his natural ebb and flow to distract sensory opponents or to lure them in..

He could pull infinite possibilities with his clan's jutsu—but what else could he add to the team to help bring them up another level? Sakura had taken that sword and would more than likely start training in kenjutsu, Kiba had delved into the arrays and puzzles of fuuinjutsu, and he—

Shino suddenly sat up and peered closer at his insects tapping carelessly along the top of his desk. He pulsed chakra through them and felt as they flared with his signature. When he bent it slightly, he felt theirs mimic his.

Their team was crafted by blades and ink and fangs and illusions.

Perhaps he could add another advantage to the list as well?

As he experimented with his insects and sent differently charged chakra pulses through each of their tiny bodies, he never noticed his father standing worriedly outside his closed door, debating whether or not to walk in.

It's one in the morning when Shino makes a breakthrough and Shibi walks back down the hallway without saying a word.

::

"Team Eight is requesting an audience," Cat—an ANBU who spent nearly a fourth of his time guarding the Hokage's office—informed.

"Ah, send them in, please," Hiruzen smiled as he tipped his head, and as Cat turned around to fulfill his duty, his smile fell a touch as four (five, he supposed) fully-intact bodies entered the room. He carefully noted that Kurenai stood behind her team, not in front, and that there was no accusatory gleam in her eyes that suggested she'd learned something new from her team. That might just be good acting, but a touch of relief settled in his old bones. Team Eight wouldn't— _couldn't_ —have told her anything. Not willingly, at least. "Good morning. Were there any complications with the mission?"

"Just one; a man named Kusabi and his band of criminals," Kurenai reported. "We looked into him and found he was part of the mercenaries hired by Gato. They must've stayed to cause more trouble, I'm sure."

Hiruzen set his pipe against his lip. "How terrible. They've been taken care of?"

"Yes, I took down a good half of them on my own. They attacked on one of our perimeter rounds and we were fortunate enough to all have been caught simultaneously instead of being separated," she replied. His free hand twitched, hidden beneath his desk and out of sight. "They shouldn't be any more problem in the future."

He was disappointed. Frustrated, unsatisfied, wholly _displeased_ —but he smiled his easy smile and nodded. "Congrats to you all for a job well done, Team Eight. You're dismissed and may collect your payments at the missions desk downstairs."

Hiruzen watched them bow and lead themselves out, three frosty glares staring straight into his eyes until the moment their backs were to him and they stepped out of the room. As the door shut, he dismissed the ANBU from his office and secured the area with a few taps of his fingers. He didn't look up when his door clicked open, then clicked closed, then locked.

"I want this to end," Hiruzen promptly stated. "Nothing _good_ will come of it."

"Are they dead?"

"No—"

"Then it must continue," Danzo replied simply. His cane tapped against the floor as he neared the desk and his eye roved cursorily over the paperwork on top. "The mission served a perfect opportunity to eliminate them, yet _still_ it hasn't been managed." He sneered. "Yuuhi wasn't supposed to be there when they were attacked and it seems like you failed to give that Kusabi proper instructions. Please tell me you weren't more of a fool and gave him full reimbursement before the task was completed."

"I'm not an idiot. They received a quarter and would have received the rest had they succeeded," snapped Hiruzen. He exhaled harshly and rubbed his face. "Kusabi was low genin at best; it's no surprise he fell at Kurenai-san's hands. The only reason he was selected was due to his former ties to Gato and because of his near-confrontation with Team Seven, his cowardice sending him fleeing when he found them too strong. He was the _only_ viable mercenary to use and you know that fully well."

Danzo huffed. "I also said to allow ROOT to take care of the problem, but you've refused and dug yourself an even deeper hole."

"Their disappearances or deaths would be too suspicious if you use that route," Hiruzen stressed with a sharp gesture of his hand. "It needs to be a coincidental accident. There are two clan children on that team, one of them of noble blood. This is the only approach."

"Then do a better job next time," growled the councilman. "They have the runt of the litter, a few pests, a pink-haired nobody—it shouldn't be this hard. Genin. You could killed them with the wave of a hand if you weren't so weak of heart!"

"Tread carefully, old friend. I'm still the Hokage," the Sandaime warned, his eyes glinting slightly with the steel of his past youth. Danzo scoffed and rolled his eye, his teeth bared as he gestured mockingly towards the window and towards the village of Konoha.

"And we're standing here in your honorable office planning the murder of three children who were smart enough to piece together your mistakes," he said. Glee trickled in his mockery as Hiruzen flinched. "Don't try to act so high and mighty now, _old friend_ , or else you'll have your predecessors rolling in their graves."

::

Red eyes watched in amazement as a blue sheen swept over the entirety of the apartment before fading back into the seals it came from. Kiba grew smug before Sakura reached over and clipped the back of his head.

"Ow!"

"See what happens when you make that face again."

Kurenai could feel her amusement in the pit of her stomach, but it wasn't enough to climb all the way to her face. She was too worried, too concerned for their well-being. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw a pitch black burn on a pink tongue. She cast a wary glance across her walls.

"Will it hold well?" she asked. Kiba scratched the back of his head.

"Er, I don't know? But—hey, hey, _hey_ , let me finish—it'll flash red if someone's trying to break it, then orange if it's broken, so it's not like we won't know it's happening."

Sakura lowered her proffered fist and Shino pushed up his glasses. "I give thanks every day that you're not as stupid as you appear to be."

Kiba didn't know if he should take that as a compliment or an insult.

Kurenai regathered their attention by setting down a pitcher of juice and a pitcher of water onto the table. They each poured themselves their own helping, juice for them all and water for Akamaru, before she sat down and pulled a blank expression. The genin quickly picked up on her aura and the easy energy that charged the room quickly dimmed.

Sakura picked up her glass. "What would you like to talk about first, Kurenai-sensei?"

"Your seals," she answered instantly. "If I could get another look at them...?"

Shino, who sat closest to their teacher, set his cup down, unzipped his coat down to the base of his neck, and stuck out his tongue. Seeing it in person for the second time didn't nullify her fears, but increased them, because now she knew for sure it wasn't a dream or trick of the light.

She phrased her next words carefully, trying to figure out what exactly the boundaries were and how to work around them, what would or wouldn't constitute as 'intent against the caster'. "What made the assailant believe you deserved those seals?"

Sakura slowly sipped her drink. "... We found out a truth," she said. "Some people don't like that."

"A truth?"

"Like the Kyuubi or Namikaze Minato's legacy," Shino added. His tongue pulsed faintly, and his teeth clenched in pain. "Things people should know about, but don't."

Kurenai tapped her lip. She already knew the Hokage was a part of the whole debacle—her team wouldn't be treating him with such hostility and he wouldn't be taking it with a cowed head otherwise. But who else was in on it? There had to be more people involved, no matter its obscurity. But a conspiracy involving the Hokage had to have involved more people. Jounin? ANBU? Council members? Clan Heads? The variables were endless.

"But you must've had research prior to this, right?" she mentioned. "I know you can all be very thorough when you want to."

That earned her strange glances. She'd never told them she was there when they discovered Naruto's origins, but Sakura answered nonetheless. "Gone," she stated bitterly. "I came back to my apartment one day and there was nothing."

"But there were le—" Kiba started, but his tongue tingled and his mouth snapped shut. Suspicions he never had before clamored up his spine. The seal reacted to the letters? So they'd been placed for—for what? For them to get caught? Anger spiked deep in his core as he met his teammates' eyes and they silently came to an agreement that the letters would be a topic of later discussion. He pushed down his rage. "—er, files that appeared outta nowhere." Oddly, the seal gave no indication that the files had anything to do with Danzo or Hiruzen, so he pushed further in that direction. "We don't know where they came from, but they kinda nudged us the right way? We found out more stuff, went to do some other... stuff, and got caught."

So they did have allies somewhere. Who, she didn't have a clue, but she was glad someone had been there for them when she wasn't. And hopefully they had no ill intention.

She was coaxed out of her musings when Shino reached into his coat and pulled out a folded piece of paper and held it out. Kurenai reached for it curiously, and once unfolded in her nimble fingers, her eyes went wide.

 _ **Shoushagan no Jutsu**_

 _ **Alternatively: Vanishing Facial Copy Technique**_

 _Ninjutsu, B-rank, Supplementary, Short-Range_

 _Steal the face of a foe, wear it as your own. Leaves victims faceless_ _._

 _ **Genjutsu Shibari**_

 _ **Alternatively: Genjutsu Binding**_

 _Genjutsu, B-rank, Supplementary, Short to Mid-Range_

 _Blind your opponent, render them incapable of movement._

 _ **Keiyaku Fuuin**_

 _ **Alternatively: Contract Seal**_

 _Fuuinjutsu, B-rank, Supplementary, Short-Range_

 _Implement on a summoner, have them lose control of their creature._

Below the descriptions was the list of hand seals for each technique. Quickly committing them to memory, Kurenai's head snapped up. Kiba was pouring himself another cup of juice while Sakura sipped at her own, gaze ever unwavering.

Shino gestured toward the paper. "There are some jutsu we found while we were..." His hand swished from side to side. "You know. Why are these the only jutsu we have? There was not much we could leave with. Three special techniques is fair recompense for the trouble it took to obtain them."

 _Special techniques indeed_ , Kurenai thought as she studied them. In her hands were jutsu she'd never seen before—and to think they were in her team's possession made her rethink just how capable they really were. They certainly could fit into the Infiltration/Reconnaissance specialization without issue and were proving their worth; stealing techniques, learning sealing, unnerving a _Kage_...

She narrowed her gaze once more at the list of hand seals. They were in Sakura's handwriting. "Did you manage to figure out the jutsu composition yourself?" she questioned, a tad incredulous.

Shino and Kiba looked to Sakura as she shrugged. "Ame's known to be a center for original techniques, so they spend a lot of time teaching chakra control, jutsu overlays, things like that." Kurenai's eyebrows rose and Sakura hastened to explain. "I was homeschooled so my curriculum was a little advanced, even by Ame's standards."

Kurenai laid the paper on the table and smoothed out its wrinkles. "And does that mean you've been homeschooled on the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist as well?"

Sakura held her stare for a long few seconds before she puffed out a resigned sigh,shouldering the weight of her team's curiosity. Kurenai knew for a fact that Shino and Kiba had no idea what the swords were, and she admitted her knowledge of them was sketchy at best, completely fallible at worst.

"... My father wasn't originally of Ame, though I was raised there," she said. She was conflicted, eyes roving from one spot on the table to another but never to her teacher's face. "He used to be a Kiri shinobi."

Kurenai nodded. She expected as much.

Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru traded looks. They knew about her father being a missing-nin, a very _alive_ missing-nin who worked under a boss, but she hadn't mentioned the Kiri part.

Sakura continued. "In Kiri, there are a group of shinobi called the Seven Swordsmen whose strength is only second to the are said to be capable of taking down nations with nothing but the swords in their possession: the Seven Swords of the Blood Mist. There's Kabutowari; the Bluntsword, Kiba; the Thunderswords, Nuibari; the Longsword, Shibuki; the Blastsword, Samehada; the Greatsword—" She tried not to pause— "Hiramekarei; the Twinsword, and Kubikiribocho, the Seversword." She unclipped a scroll from her belt—Kiba's recently completed project—and laid it out on the table. Kurenai moved the pitcher to the counter, Kiba and Shino picked up all the glasses, and Akamaru leapt onto an empty chair and placed his paws on the edge of the table to get a better view. Sakura nicked her thumb and swiped her blood on the scroll and suddenly, a fine cloud of smoke erupted and an enormous sword took up the entire length of the table, and then some.

"Damn," Kiba murmured. He didn't get quite a good look at the sword back in Wave, but after observing it up close, all he could say the thing was ridiculously huge. "Which one's that?"

"Kubikiribocho," Sakura said as she stared down at the blade. There was respect in her eyes, even a smatter of admiration. "Each of the Seven has their own unique ability, and this one regenerates from the blood of the enemies it cuts down. A whetstone never needs to touch it—all you need to do is fight."

Before, Shino didn't know why Kirigakure earned the moniker 'Chigiri'. _The Bloody Mist_. But he was starting to get a good idea.

"They also call it the Executioner's Blade because the semi-circle near the hilt was made for decapitation," she informed, pointing to the particular spot. Sweat started to collect in Kiba's palms, but he was silent as he listened closely. "The Seven Swords are passed down from generation to generation as tradition denotes, so it's every Kiri shinobi's dream to be worthy enough to be chosen as a future wielder." Her eyes flamed for a brief moment. "Kiri doesn't have the best political climate, never had, and I don't know if it ever will. Rogues spill out of that village by the tens, so it was only a matter of time that the Swords followed. As far as I know, Hiramekarei is the only one left in Kiri's possession. All the other six have been taken elsewhere."

Kurenai looked at the blade's razor-sharp edge and wondered how many hundreds, if not thousands, had died to sustain it. "And you'll learn how to use it?"

"It would be more than an honor," said Sakura. "I'll make my heritage proud."

Her teacher nodded. "I'll find someone who can introduce you to kenjutsu," she promised, earning a surprised blink for her statement. "There are a few off the top of my head that I can think of... and I'm assuming this sword will need to be kept a secret, even from your eventual mentor?"

"I won't wield Kubikiribocho again until I become a good enough swordswoman to do it justice," was the only reply. Kurenai nodded again and turned her eye to the duo to her left.

"Moving on. Kiba, would you please expand upon your sudden interest in sealing?"

He perked up. "Oh, well, uh, I found a book when we were doing research. It was kinda interesting when I read up on it and I thought it was all pretty cool, so I started making some seals of my own."

Kurenai tilted her head. "The Inuzuka pride themselves on offensive attacks and taijutsu, and I don't think a seal master has ever come out of your clan," she said. "Do you take to them easily? Did Inuzuka-sama introduce the concept to you?"

"Nah, Mom doesn't know 'bout it. Neither does Hana," he said. "Shino and Sakura were the ones freakin' out over this Rubik's cube I solved."

"He'd never seen one before and solved it in five minutes," Shino added immediately. "Sakura recognized his capacity for that type of problem solving and tested him."

"We didn't have time to go over his results," commented Sakura. "By the time we got around to it, he was working on the scroll we used to hold Kubikiribocho and we figured there was no reason to worry about his paper tests. I still have the results, if you want them."

Kurenai readily accepted the small sheaf of papers her student pulled from her pouch and carefully scanned them through. She lent half a mind to listening as Sakura answered more questions her teammates had about the swords, but it was hard when the results in her hands took her so completely by surprise. These tests, ones so unlike those issued at the Academy, included different logic puzzles, notes from the hands-on solving of mechanical puzzles, and escape strategies answered thoroughly and unusually—but not at all incorrectly. There were no math questions, no convoluted word problems, no reading or grammar comprehension. These questions relied on instinct and were directly applicable to the real world.

"Everything here..." she started, shaking her head as she flipped through the pages. "Kiba, if you're capable of this much, why were you struggling so much at the Academy?"

His face dropped a bit as he laughed sheepishly and stuck his hands in his pockets. "The teachers were, I dunno, moving kinda fast, I guess? They didn't really care that I cut class anyways, so I didn't see the point of sittin' through boring talks and stuff."

Akamaru whined as Kurenai's brows creased together. Not only was Kiba a clan child, but he had just as much potential as anyone else in the class—why did the Academy let its less focused students stay astray? Maybe later she'd write to the council for a more thorough hiring of teachers, or at least for the Board of Education to implement a stricter code of student success.

Her lips pursed. "If the school didn't help you, who did?"

Kiba turned his head towards Sakura and she looked at their teacher unblinkingly. "Standardized tests aren't an indication for intelligence, just memorization, so it's not weird that he did good in something he thought was fun versus what someone else expected of him. All he needed was extra time; if I wasn't going to help, who was?"

Point taken.

Kurenai cast another cursory stare at the tags on her walls, a niggling paranoia raising the hairs at the nape of her neck. If anyone came across an apartment rigged with seals and faintly buzzing with an Aburame's insects, they would ask questions she didn't want to answer. They really would have to be quicker with these types of conversations.

"I can get you books on seals that have jounin clearance," she said, smiling slightly at the way he brightened. "If you have any requests, just let me know and I'll find a way to get them. Other than that I should have a decent stack of books for you to start on by the end of the week."

Akamaru barked and his partner flashed a wide grin. "Thanks, sensei!"

Shino was staring at Kurenai with a calculating look behind his dark lenses. He'd contributed to the conversation, of course, but he'd still been quiet for the most part. She gave him a questioning tilt of her head. He sat up.

"I don't understand why you decided to stand by our side without question," he said. "Why? You've been a Konoha shinobi much longer than you've been our teacher—there is no reason to side with us and against your Kage." Sakura and Kiba had gone quiet as their eyes flitted back and forth. "We are genin, children in your eyes, I'm sure. And you have _no idea_ what we've done, nor why the sealer took such lengths to sew our lips shut. You have no obligation to us. You have no reason to believe us. Why would you go so far for _us_?"

Trust was a strong word, yet one of those words that loses meaning the more its used. To see her team have so little made her heart sink in her chest. Their eyes were cold and their faces were stone; too old to be coddled but too young to have already been betrayed. It was true—she was twenty-seven and had served as a faithful shinobi for eighteen years. She was all too aware that she knew nothing of what they'd done.

But in the words of her own father...

 _"You all listen closely," Yuuhi Shinku said as he eyed the group of teenaged shinobi before him. The barrier around them did nothing to block the echo of the Nine-Tail's roars of rage or the collapse of building after building. "The young ones—all of you—are to_ stay away _from the Kyuubi."_

 _A chuunin Kurenai narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"_

 _"We are not fighting other villages here, we're trying to control a situation that may be too far out of our hands. You cannot risk your lives."_

 _"Speak for yourself!" Kurenai snapped. Her father's gaze softened as it landed on her, but it doesn't lessen his intensity._

 _"We are not guaranteed long lives, so please take these words of an old shinobi." His red eyes, a perfect match to his daughter's, returned to look over the cluster of listless teenagers. "You are the future of this village. Who will we be if none of you live to create it?"_

"I... don't know how bad Konoha seems to you," she admitted with a shameful slouch of her shoulders. "I don't know when it started, but how you're all feeling could have been going on longer than you've all been alive. Longer than _I've_ been alive." She straightened once more with one hand around Kiba's test results and the other against the edge of the table. "Never in my life have I questioned the Hokage because that's not what we're made for—but the Will of Fire has burned you and no one's noticed."

She closed her eyes for a brief moment, but all she could see was a black hexagram seal. Kurenai forced them back open. "If it were treason you would've been executed or imprisoned, but no one knows about this, do they?" Slowly, they each shook their heads and anger shoots through her. "Were you given a choice?" Again, they shook their heads. "Then there's every chance that what's been done to you was unjust and I will _never_ stand for it. Even if I lose my Will of Fire, as Konoha seems to have done, I still have my _free_ will. You don't." She sighed tiredly. "I meant what I said in Wave."

The digital green clock on the oven struck 9:17 AM and a hush fell over the table. Shino and Sakura were still standing, but Kiba had taken back his seat and Akamaru's tail had stopped wagging nearly half an hour past. All eyes were on Shino now, and though both his teammates could add interject, they wouldn't. Not for this.

"... I see. But we won't let it come down to your death, Kurenai-sensei," replied Shino. His eyes—for a split second—grew haunted. "We don't intend to let anyone die for our sakes. All we want to do is bring justice for those who were never able to do it for themselves. Why? Because someone has to."

The clouds in his gaze left as he regained his normal composure. "I also intend to become a field medic to minimize the chances of imminent harm."

Kiba sputtered into his cup and Sakura grimaced as her pants were splattered with juice. "Medic?! When the hell did you decide that?!"

"This morning."

"This mor—Shino, _what the hell_."

"Medics raise the chance for mission survival up to 75% on occasion. With our penchant for... _misfortune_ , it's safe to assume our need for as much assistance as feasible," he explained. "I am willing to study it and have become intrigued with what my kikaichu's application to medicine could mean."

Just as with Inuzuka and seal masters, no dedicated healers had ever come out of the Aburame Clan as far as Kurenai could think of. They were special because of their ability to use jutsu-like techniques without the use of hand signs and invaluable because of their unparalleled sensing techniques. Their chakra molding abilities were said to be exemplary, but it had never been applied to the medical sector. Had it really never been thought of?

If anything, it'd make more sense for Shino to expand on his sensor abilities and Kiba to have piqued an interest in taijutsu styles. But when had her team ever taken the easy road?

"There's a field medic program at the hospital—small, engaging, always on the lookout for more people." She folded Kiba's results and slid them back to Sakura as she eyed the sword still gleaming on the table. "Luckily you won't need anyone's seal of approval except for mine, so I'll put in a request and get all the paperwork you'll need to start the program."

Another glance at both the clock and the seals told her they'd spoken under the silencers longer than intended and she motioned for them to be brought down. Sakura quickly sealed Kubikiribocho back into the scroll and tucked it away while Shino pulled back his kikaichu. They all assumed their normal seats as the orange light of broken seals enveloped the room, a faint wave of chakra brushing them by.

"... So." Sakura looked at Kiba. "Is now a good time to kick your ass for spitting juice on my pants?"

::

Kurenai wove through the streets of Konoha with a bag slung over her shoulder, a sea of admittance forms in one hand, and her nose buried in Senju Tsunade's published manual: _Green Fire on the Front Lines: A Future of Field Medics_. She was currently on page thirteen of two hundred and thirty-four, scrutinizing each line as the sealing books in her bag tapped rhythmically against her thigh. She still had a few hours before she was to meet her father at his favorite sweets shop and talk to him about kenjutsu. He was an instructor and overseer of chuunin and jounin after all, maybe he wouldn't mind overseeing a genin for a little while—

She halted her steps a millisecond before she had the chance to collide with the body in her path. She looked up and immediately smiled as she met a soft, dark gaze.

She'd recognize such gentleness anywhere.

"It's unusual to see you out and about in the middle of the day," she mused. "You're usually on duty aren't you?"

Tenzou chuckled. "Yes, I suppose I am. Unfortunately, my leave has racked up to its limit. I've been ordered to take an extra day off every two weeks." He nodded towards the papers in her hands. "What about you? You're mostly with your genin during the week."

"Thursdays are weapon days. I had them practice with senbon and it seems Kiba has a surprising knack for it," she sighed, but the smile was still on her face. "They were working on their aim and were exceptional, so I let them off early for the day."

He fell into step beside her as they meandered down the busy street. He tucked the bit about Kiba and senbon as a note in his mind as he glanced back at those stuffy papers. "A medic, Kurenai-san?"

"For Shino," she replied. There was an open intrigue on his face and she tapped his arm with the forms. "If you're so interested in my genin, you know you can meet them, right?"

He smiled easily and turned his head back to the road ahead of them. "I'd like to one day, but maybe not too soon." There was something in his voice that made her want to ask more, but she didn't pry.

"Are you afraid of what they'll say to you? Sometimes they'll give you gray hairs, but my genin really aren't that bad, Tenzou-san," she joked. Well, maybe it wasn't too far from the truth. When she was combing her hair yesterday she did see a single, pesky silver strand that she was _sure_ wasn't there before. Maybe she should check her stress levels next. Or her blood pressure.

Tenzou laughed, half at her words and half at the thoughtful pout that suddenly took up her face. "I'm sure they're good kids," he said. "But... I think it'll be a while."

"Yeah? You ask about them a lot, and I think they'd like to meet the person who built their obstacle course."

Kurenai didn't know that he started to think of labs and seals and consequences, and she frowned when his smile turned sad.

"When I'm ready to face them, I will," he promised. _But for now, Cat will have to do._

She opened her mouth to ask what he meant because it sounded like he'd met them before, somehow, somewhere, but she was stopped when she caught sight of brown hawk overhead, a white circle under each wing.

::

"I assume you all already understand why you've been summoned," Hiruzen said as he surveyed the tens of jounin in his office, his face a perfect mask of indifference.

Asuma's cigarette hung in his mouth as he spoke. "The other villages have already been notified, right? There's a little more of them around the village than usual."

"And when will it start?" Kurenai questioned. She held the old man's stare that bored into her before it moved to address the group as a singular body.

"One week," said the Third. Her teeth clenched together, but no one noticed—they were too occupied with their surprised whispering. One week? She was supposed to have a month to train them and that same month to prepare! They'd just gotten back from that useless mission and failed assassination attempt only for her team not to get a fair chance like the rest of them?!

"That's sudden," Kakashi said. His trademark orange book was nowhere in sight. Hiruzen was quiet as he took a long draw of his pipe and blew out a steady stream of smoke.

"I will make the formal announcement shortly," he continued like no one had mentioned anything before him. "Seven days from today, on the first of July, the Chuunin Exams will begin in Konohagakure. Now, I ask for those in charge of the rookie genin teams to step forward."

This was simply procedure. Those with rookies would come forward, announce that their teams would not compete, then the teachers who've had genin a year or longer would come and nominate their own teams or pass until the next exams.

At least, that was the play-by-play since the stunning all-rookie nominations from five years ago.

"Hatake Kakashi, Yuuhi Kurenai, and Sarutobi Asuma," he stated as he looked each of them over. "Are there any genin you recommend for next week's exams? As you well know, the qualifications are that a single genin must have at least eight formal missions on record."

Kakashi moved first, the fingers on his right hand forming the seal of confrontation as a testament of truth to what he would say next. "I am the leader of Team Seven consisting of: Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto. I, Hatake Kakashi, nominate all three for the Chuunin Exams."

Kurenai's wide eyes immediately leapt to Hiruzen. Satisfaction curled in their depths as one of his fingers twitched. He knew he couldn't stop her now—not with Kakashi's recommendations, not when two noble clan children won't be refused. She raised her hand and formed the seal. "I am the leader of Team Eight consisting of: Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Sakura. I, Yuuhi Kurenai, nominate all three for the Chuunin Exams."

Asuma was the last to speak, but murmurs were already flying around the room as he raised his hand. "I am the leader of Team Ten consisting of: Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino," he said. "I, Sarutobi Asuma, nominate all three for the Chuunin Exams."

The office exploded in chatter, but Kurenai didn't hear any of it.

One week.

Seven days.

 _And there was still a lot of work to do._


	25. Seven

_**Seven Days Until an Obsession Grows**_

Danzo searched the intel stacked on his desk and noted nothing of immediate worry. There was the occasional skirmish on the borders, the regular update on the state of the council and the Hokage, a handful of rogue ninja spottings, and no incidents that could lead to an international affair.

 _'A pity_ , _'_ he thought. Several chances for Hiruzen to make himself the fool in front of his people, and all of them missed.

He eyed another particular pile of folders on the corner of his desk—placed there in the morning by one of his members and linked through from Hiruzen himself. They were the files of all the approved genin participants and, as he flipped through them, his lip didn't curl up in disgust until he neared the end.

Aburame Shino. Inuzuka Kiba. Sakura.

"You old fool," he hissed to himself. "Your constant stream of missions _qualified_ them, not _hindered_ them!"

He slammed the files onto the wooden surface and stood so quickly his chair nearly toppled behind him. Danzo snatched his cane from its lean against the wall behind him and walked out of his office.

He was immediately flanked by the taller, stockier-built operative Monkey and junior operative Lion.

"Report," he demanded as they weaved through the dreary corridors.

"A greater concentration of Sunagakure participants have entered the Chuunin Exams this year. It is a slight cause for concern as it is a sudden change in the pattern recorded over the last ten years," Monkey informs. He and Lion, though different heights and hefting different gaits, mirror each other's steps and stay exactly three paces behind Danzo. "The same issue lies with the level of Otogakure participation. Numbers of over three times the predicted amount have been noted. Oral account completed."

Lion picked up where the other left off without a second to spare. "There have been increased sightings of Orochimaru over the last three and a half months. No threat has been confirmed, but investigations are still underway. Oral account completed."

Danzo's mind stalled slightly at the thought of Orochimaru interrupting the exams. Surely that man would turn the village on its head one way or another, and—he had to admit—doing something along that vein during what could be the busiest and most politically fragile time was certainly... _opportune_. It was nothing he wished on his village, but that man's cunning was something to be reckoned with. And though he wasn't sure of what to make of Suna's sudden surge of competitors, it was nothing he currently cared for. Especially not with the current happenings of the ridiculously annoying Team Eight and the ridiculously incompetent Third Hokage.

"Reports," he snapped. Two stacks of paper appeared at the same time on both his sides and his free hand snatched them up. He knew they contained the important, in-depth details of the mission he assigned Monkey and Lion and it was weeks upon weeks of tireless information gathering, yet the gleam in his eyes was bright as they combust in his grip and their ashes trail along the concrete floor.

Fire etches deep cut shadows in porcelain masks, accentuating darkness under eye slits and hollowed out cheeks.

"There is no Orochimaru, no surge or participants, no cause for worry. You will not inform others of your findings and you will not bring it up with your associates."

"Order received. Compliance understood."

"—Order received. Compliance understood."

Lion's delayed response was an almost unnoticeable slip, but Danzo didn't do _almost_. When he suddenly stopped and the accompanying ROOT members followed suit, their heels tapping together and their arms crossed behind their backs, he turned to Lion.

"Know reluctance serves no purpose here. Prepare yourself for another Cognitive Evaluation with your seniors."

This time, Lion didn't hesitate in his words. "Order received. Compliance understood."

His voice was too soft. Too bland. Too young. But no one standing there thought anything of it, because in ROOT, there was no such thing as _too young_. If there was, they would've been _too young_ to have been taken, _too young_ to have been exploited, _too young_ to forget what having a name meant.

 _Too young_ to forget what that name was.

"Dismissed," Danzo said. As he continued down the hall and Lion and Monkey returned to resume their duties, none—perhaps least of all Lion—noticed the mustard seed of doubt that made its new home in Lion's chest.

Sometimes a tree took a thousand years to grow.

But waiting for it was always the only option.

 _ **Six Days Until the Blackbird Crows**_

When Itachi stepped into his partner's apartment, it was to the sight of a packed bag tossed carelessly onto the couch and a pot of something steaming on the stove.

"Chuunin Exams got moved up a month earlier than usual. No idea why," Kisame said as he shut the front door and went back into the kitchen to turn off the stove. "I'm leaving tonight and should be back—I dunno, month, month and a half? Leader-sama knows I'll be gone so you'll probably get stuck on a buncha solos for a hot minute. Sorry 'bout that."

"And you informed him of where you'll be?"

"Just told him I got business. He won't care as long as I get back when I say I get back." Kisame shrugged. "Besides, it's not like he gives a shit about what we do with our time. Stew?"

"No, thank you," Itachi politely refused as he took a seat on one of the kitchen stools, watching as a kettle was placed on the stove. His partner hadn't asked about tea, but he supposed he didn't have to. Even if he were to deny the gesture for a cup, there was no way he'd refuse one if it was set before him to take.

He wondered if he was always this easy to read. Then, he wondered if this was just something fathers did.

Either way, he wouldn't know.

"Solo missions I have no quarrel with, but Leader-sama allows for such an extended absence?"

"I've been working under him too damn long at this point," Kisame answered with a sharp grin. "He's gotta let me off the leash someday."

That wasn't true, but they acted like it was.

The pot on the stove was covered and the kettle wasn't quite steaming, so it was quiet in the small, worn apartment. They got along well enough that conversations and companionable silences served the same purpose, both chasing off the ghosts that haunted them. Seafood stews and too-watery tea won't ever make up for what could have been, but it was something, and sometimes _something_ was all it took to get out of bed in the morning.

Itachi nodded as a slightly chipped cup was placed in front of him. "Through your secrecy, I suppose your reason for attending the exams isn't common knowledge?"

"Sorry," Kisame said with a tilted sort of smile. "Don't got much of anythin' to keep 'cept for this."

The Uchiha understood completely and didn't push it any further. But a few moment later, his fingers curled around his cup and he suddenly looked much older than any seventeen year old should be. His eyes turned glassy, shining with the red of his sharingan.

"I... Kisame-san, if it isn't too much of me to ask a favor?"

Kisame lent an intrigued ear. His partner had never asked for a favor before—he didn't seem like the type. "What's up?"

Itachi took one, two, long sips of his tea. "My younger brother resides in Konoha. He's twelve years old, more talented than he ever thought he was, and remains the sole survivor of the massacre. His name is Sasuke." He glanced to the side. "I'm positive he'll make it through the first part of the exams, if not all sections—"

"I'll look out for him," Kisame interrupted, then quirked an amused eyebrow. "Were you about to ramble? 'Cause all you had to do was ask."

Relief settled on Itachi's shoulders as he took a sip of tea. He tried to hide the faint, embarrassed blush that crept up his neck. Ramble. Uchiha Itachi didn't _ramble_.

Quiet swept in after that, and as Kisame's turned to ladle himself a bowl of stew, Itachi's throat strained against the wet cough that threatened to send him into another hacking fit.

"Itachi-san?"

He looked up. Kisame stared at him with a crease in his brow and a frown on his face. The former shook his head once. "It's fine."

"Seeing a medic won't kill you. Actually, I think seeing a medic is gonna do the exact _opposite_ of killing you—"

"It's fine," Itachi repeated, his voice firm and leaving no room for argument. "It's not getting worse."

 _It was._

"My lungs are not in critical condition."

 _Lungs are not supposed to fill with liquid._

He set down his cup and smiled slightly. "I'm not dying, Kisame-san."

 _But for how much longer?_

 _ **Five Days 'til Monsters Tear Down the Walls**_

Kakashi had just told his students that they were competing in the exams.

Naruto flung his arms around his teacher's neck and whooped. Sasuke smirked. Hinata's cheeks tinted pink as she gripped the hem of her jacket in determination.

Asuma told his team of their nomination over their morning tea.

Ino slammed her cup down with stars in her eyes. Chouji nearly choked on his drink. Shikamaru muttered _troublesome_ as he sipped, smacking his friend's back.

Gai exploded onto the training field with a leg high in the air and three participant forms in his hand.

Lee cried tears of youth. Tenten grinned and twirled a kunai between her fingers. Neji crossed his arms with a thought that it was _about damn time_.

Kurenai, though, had informed her team about their nominations two days prior than the others. Yesterday, they'd submitted their applications. Today, new calluses formed on her team's hands from the 'sudden death' training regime they'd suffered through the day before.

::

 _"So we're competing and—uh, sensei, why do you look like that? How come you're so mad?"_

::

Sakura stared down at her arms and the swathes of weights that kept her from seeing her skin. She almost had to squint at how garishly orange they were, and she didn't have to dig into her brilliant memory to know exactly where Kurenai got them from. She turned her head to her other teammates.

Well, at least she wasn't those two.

::

 _"Hokage-sama didn't want you three competing."_

 _"H-Huh? Why?!"_

::

Shino stood with bent knees, one hand with a kunai and the other wrapped around a pair of legs—legs, which in fact, were connected to the conscious body slung over one of his shoulders. Kiba.

"This is the worst," Kiba grumbled. Red-faced, his hands wound around a brush and a blank scroll. Akamaru barked cheerily from his spot on the ground as he gazed up at his partner's predicament.

"Yes, because the scroll you're carrying is incredibly heavy. My mistake," Shino drawled.

"Are you—are you calling me fat?!"

"Well, I suppose if you aren't carrying a boulder in your pockets, then—"

::

 _"Because of who we are. Why? You know what we've done. What we've been accused of."_

 _"But what the hell does that have to do with anything?!"_

 _"We conducted fact-based research and dug ourselves a hole so deep that they're re-burying it with us inside. They—" A pause. A pulse. "Higher rank automatically denotes greater access to resources. Keeping our rank down ensures we never get farther than we have."_

::

Kurenai chuckled to herself as Kiba flailed in offense and Sakura twitched once more at the horrendously bright shade of her arm weights. She cleared her throat to gather their attention and smiled. "You've all expressed the strengths you'd like to build on, so I created a new physical training arrangement for those interests. And since you've all been able to pass the obstacle course in record time, it was time to kick it up a notch."

::

 _"He couldn't refuse my nomination because Kakashi-san allowed all three of his genin to participate. I'm thankful. If he hadn't done that, then Hokage-sama could've refused me outright."_

::

They were less than impressed. She smothered a laugh.

"If you want to wield heavy weaponry, Sakura, you need to work on your upper body strength. That means weights on your arms and torso to simulate the strain your muscle will take while your legs learn to carry that extra force," she explained. "Shino, if you're going to be a field medic, you're going to need to know how to carry bodies from the battlefield. Kiba will act as your training dummy—" Sakura snorted as Kiba cried out at the injustice— "as you learn to carry a body according to weight distributions and wound placement. Wound placements we'll deal with later, but for now, we'll act as if you're carrying an unharmed, unconscious body."

Shino sagged slightly. "If only the body was truly unconscious." A hand thumped his back and he hissed in response. " _Do not think I believe myself to be above dropping you._ "

::

 _"What are we gonna do? He moved it up a month 'cause he's a complete ass— "_

 _"Kiba."_

 _"—so what type of training are we gonna get into? Our usual? Our usual intensified? Sudden death mode?!"_

 _"Neither."_

 _The response to that echoed with three different voices and a questioning whine. "Neither?!"_

::

"Kiba," Kurenai continued. "You'll need to learn how to create seals under different circumstances, most likely the ones where you'll be jostled and required to multitask. You won't always be Shino's counterweight, but since this is the introductory session, I'd like for you to get a general feel for what your new physical education training entails."

"And that would be...?" Sakura questioned slowly. Kurenai smiled even wider as shuriken appeared in the spaces between her fingers.

"Evasion."

::

 _"You three aren't inexperienced and haven't been for a while. I can say without a doubt that you all will excel to the final round if you so choose. Training will only be altered on the accounts of your interests."_

 _A hum._

 _"But 'Sudden Death Mode' does have a nice ring to it."_

::

Nestled in the trees, Tenzou watched the group of clumsy bodies that lugged themselves across the training field, barely dodging projectiles along the way. In the middle of their scramble, Kurenai looked behind her and up at the treeline and winked before launching another set of shuriken.

He leaned back against the bark and laughed.

 _ **Four Days Until the High King Starts His Fall**_

Sakura tapped her pen against her desk three times before she set it down and stood. She straightened her pile of notes on sword techniques, foreign policy, and rules of the Chuunin Exams before setting it aside. She and the rest of her team had already studied what they could and decided the outcomes they each would strive for, given the correct circumstances.

There were three stages they would have to go through: Written, Applied, and the Knockout. What would matter most was the Applied section where it would be decided whether or not the team would advance to the Knockout.

 _"Except if they decide to include a preliminary round," she said. "Whole teams aren't necessary to get to the Knockout. It's a free for all."_

 _"That's... when too many teams make it, right?" Kiba hummed. He squished Akamaru's cheeks as the latter's tongue lolled out. "What's the pass limit again? Three or four teams or something?"_

 _Shino pushed up his glasses. "Fifteen or more participants automatically require a preliminary round. Why? The Knockout operates on a simple fighter bracket—fifteen or more participants would take too long. The preliminaries would cut down the total by half and by half once more, if necessary." His fingers drummed against his arm. "But if we do take part in the preliminaries, all three of us can't pass. It's too suspicious."_

 _A thoughtful silence fell over the table._

 _"Well," Sakura started, "there are three different outcomes for the preliminaries: fail, tie, and pass."_

 _Kiba leaned forward. "You guys wanna draw from a hat?"_

She ended up picking tie.

Sakura slipped her kunai pouch off her nightstand and strode out the apartment. She half-heartedly noted that Naruto wasn't back at his place and chalked it up to the tougher training him and his team were probably pushing themselves through for the sake of the Exams. They'd been nominated—Kurenai had told them—along with the other rookie teams, including the one under Maito Gai.

And since then, Shino had been collecting information from the insects in the surrounding areas every night. He would have a compiled report for each competing Konoha genin in three days time.

It was late in the afternoon. Sakura passed parting glances at all the foreign shinobi that could be a possible opponent. Two... six... nine... She remembered that there were supposed to be Otogakure shinobi participating this year, but she hasn't seen one in the couple days she'd been walking around the village. Not one.

Maybe she was expecting too much, but they were four days out from the start of the exams and nearly everyone had checked in. It would be in poor taste to not show up and scope out the competition at least three days in advance.

Still, those Oto shinobi were odd. She'd seen attendees from Taki, Kusa, _Ame_ —

Her sharp green eyes caught a possible opponent's gaze as he stood beneath one of Konoha's innumerable trees. His gaze was as cold and uninviting as hers must seem, and she couldn't deny her interest was piqued.

—and now, Suna.

She approached him. "Do you need directions?"

His lips curled distastefully as he regarded her. "No. And even if I did, I wouldn't be asking a brat like you."

"Well," she said, going on carelessly like she hadn't heard the insult. "I can't see the appeal in standing around and doing nothing. Are you waiting for someone?"

He sneered. "Didn't your parents ever tell you not to talk to strangers?"

"Konoha's the _'friendly'_ village, haven't you heard? There's something to be said about keeping an image."

"Right, an image—that coming from a runt with the stupidest hair I've ever seen."

"Can't always have agreeable genes," she shrugged. "But you can't blame genes for that paint on your face. Did you do that to yourself or did an Academy student go in blind?"

There was no real bite in her tone and even he had to keep the quirks from the corners of his lips.

He extended a hand. "Kankuro," he introduced. "Glad you're not a sensitive bitch like the group of Konoha genin I ran into a couple days back."

"Sakura," she replied in kind as she wrapped her hand with his and shook firmly. "Thanks for thinking me otherwise." When her hand fell back to her side, she glanced up at the pale orange sky. "Do you really need those directions, or are you actually waiting for someone?"

Kankuro huffed a short laugh and jabbed a glove hand behind him. "I'm waiting for a teammate, Sakura the Tourist Guide. Maybe you can show me the directions to the loser's section after your ass gets kicked during the exams." He shifted slightly, the bandaged whatever on his back moving along with him. She pointedly ignored it. "You _are_ participating, aren't you?"

"If they don't disqualify me off the bat for being an eyesore, sure," she replied. Sakura tipped her head so that her loose bun flopped to one side. "Maybe I'll see you again, maybe I won't, but I hope your stay in Konoha doesn't leave you with too many broken bones."

She nodded his way before leaving him behind and meandering down the street. Kankuro watched her go from over his shoulder until he lost her in the crowd—which was quite a feat considering he really hadn't been kidding about that ridiculous hair. Because pink? Seriously? Who even did that?

He turned his head back forward as a slight frown replaced the amused half-smile he had dawned just seconds ago. Okay, so there were some halfway decent Konoha dogs lurking around the village, he shouldn't be that surprised about it. And sure, she definitely didn't take his words even _half_ as severely as—what were their names? Sasate and his whiny team?

Whatever. All that mattered was that they were damn annoying.

"Hey," a voice called. His sister walked up to him, the bottom half of her fan tapping against her calf as she nudged his side. "What was that just now? I saw you talking to some pink-haired nobody—she try to start something?"

Kankuro rolled his shoulder. "Nah, she thought I was lost and offered directions." Temari cocked a brow, but he waved her off. "Seriously, it wasn't any shit. Sakura's probably just another genin in the exams—"

" _Sakura_? What, you got her favorite color too—"

" —fuck, it's just her name! Lay off!"

"I won't lay off," she hissed as she jabbed a finger into his chest. "We're not here for fun and games, we're not here to make friends, and after you remember what we're here for—" He rolled his eyes— "are you going to be able to do what you have to?"

Kankuro pushed her hand away. Getting shoved from both ends of the sibling spectrum, really, what more could he ask for? "Relax, I shook her hand, not sealed a blood pact. When it comes down to it, I'll do what I have to."

Temari exhaled through her nose and he knew he couldn't stay annoyed at her. There was too much at stake for them to slip up even once, and if that slip up happened, Suna's fall was on them. Or worse, they'd have to answer to _him_.

Death or death. Not much of an expansive branch of choices.

"Start moving" she said, jerking her head down the road. "If we don't hurry, Gaara…" she trailed off as she bit her lip. "Gaara will get upset."

That name in itself was enough to send a foreboding slink up his spine. Gaara. Of course. The reason they had to be so damn careful on this mission anyways.

Kankuro sighed wearily and made a sweeping gesture. "Then let's go, I guess. Before we're the ones who end up with their heads on spikes."

As they made their way down the street, he threw one last look over his shoulder before turning back around.

He saw, but didn't notice, the plain, brown-haired boy that scrutinized his every movement. The boy with eyes a bit too green, a bit too sharp, a bit too out of place on his body. Perhaps if Kankuro had looked closer, he would've noticed the slight ripple of a genjutsu that changed brown hair out of its natural pink.

 _ **Three Days Until the Cards are Dealt**_

Naruto slumped forward with a peculiar ache in his bones as he tried to slip his key into the lock on his door. His hands shook and the calluses started to look a little more obvious on his fingers, and he frowned. They hadn't been that bad when he last looked.

Unwittingly, his eyes crept up until they landed on the door to his right. He hadn't seen Sakura in more than a week—not that she had to hang out with him or anything! It'd just be nice or something if they could go get ramen or talk a little bit before exams started.

His cheeks burned. "That's dumb," he muttered to himself as he forced his eyes back to the lock. "Sakura-chan doesn't need ta' hang out with someone like me. She's prob'ly busy."

"Who's busy?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin and swiveled his body towards the voice.

Sakura stood in front of her open door (how did she open it so quietly?!), slouched against the frame and a hand on her hip. She seemed amused, if anything, despite the distinct lack of a readable expression on her face.

He brightened instantly. "Sakura-chan!" That damn lock aside, he rushed over to her side and threw his arms around her neck. She didn't freeze up this time and, though she didn't fully return the hug, she did awkwardly pat his arm in a friendly gesture.

"Naruto," she nodded as he pulled away. She peered at his tired face and sweat-caked skin. "I'm guessing you had an... eventful training session?"

"Yeah! Kakashi-sensei's trainin' us real hard for the exams!"

He missed the way her gaze lit up knowingly, instead focusing on the small, kind smile he gave him. "Good. Maybe it'll make you a decent competitor."

"Hey!"

But his grin faltered when a head poked out of the doorway behind Sakura's bulk. Messy hair, red triangles on dark cheeks—he was unmistakable.

"I thought I knew that voice from somewhere!" Kiba exclaimed. He ducked back inside and shouted into the apartment. "Yo, Shino! I told you it was Naruto!"

A faint voice drifted in from over their heads. "I didn't suggest otherwise, but merely questioned the verity of your statement. Why? It's only natural to assume your wrongness than your rightne—"

Naruto tuned out the ensuing banter as the sounds around him faded and sweat started to collect in the middle of his palms. Right, Sakura had a team and other friends and other priorities. That meant he was only wasting her time, huh?

"—blem." Sakura's voice cut him out of his thoughts. "Naruto?"

He blinked, only now noticing that Shino had appeared in the doorway with Akamaru in his arms. "H-Huh?"

Kiba jerked a thumb down at the street. "We were gonna go get dinner?"

All fleeting hope Naruto didn't know he had streamed out of his bones in one deflated _whoosh_. Sakura _was_ busy today. "R-Right!" he stammered, forcing a wide smile onto his face. "If you didn't want me to bother ya, you should've said something, ya know?"

All of Team Eight exchanged confused glances with each other before Kiba spoke up again. "Uh, what? Dude, Sakura just asked if you were okay with getting tonkatsu 'cause _apparently_ there's this place that's got this Friday Special where everything on the menu is 30% off from six pm 'til closing."

"It's cheap and allows animals on the patio," Sakura informed dutifully. "Why would I pass up a deal where I don't have to spend more money than I need to?"

Naruto gaped.

"Okay, fine, but that restaurant's like, on the other side of the village!"

"And your legs work. Use them."

Naruto shook his head and took a small, tentative step forward. "W-Wait—"

"For 30% off?!"

"I understand math isn't your strong suit, but I assume you would know that there's a stark difference between 30% off and the normal price. Why? Because it's a concept learned in our first year at the Academy."

"I know _that_ —"

"You guys want me to get dinner with you?!" Naruto blurted. Akamaru barked happily as Sakura crossed her arms.

"Yeah," she said. "If you're fine with leaving now, we should get there before we're caught up in the dinner rush." Her eyes were so green, he noticed, and they weren't lying to him. They weren't like the eyes he knew stared at him in the streets or the eyes that accuse him from behind registers, or the ones that toss him out of shops and stores. "So is tonkatsu fine?"

He was met with four curious stares and he grinned, ecstatic and genuine. "Yeah, 'ttebayo!"

 _ **Two Days Until the Fates Have Knelt**_

 _'Konoha really needs to up their security,'_ Kisame thought after he passed through the gates with little fuss. Genjutsu might not be his strong suit, but transformations were something a little more up his alley. With massive chakra reserves at his disposal, it took little effort to apply himself in his endeavors.

Except that if he didn't mask it to normal levels, sensors could find him like ships to a lighthouse. And that masking of his reserves to 'normal' levels left him with only those those 'normal' levels for daily interactions.

Then there was his chakra control. Which wasn't exactly the best.

But he'd have to make due with what he had. He'd been living over twenty years without dying, so it was either good luck or he must've been doing something right.

He settled himself at a nearby cafe and tucked himself into one of the corners as he waited for one of the staff to come by and take his order. His skin might no longer be blue and his teeth might no longer be sharpened to a point, but he kept his large bulk that towered over most (if not all) the people in the village. He still managed to make himself an odd one out, but no one would think a criminal would be stupid enough to _not_ blend themselves in as much as possible.

So for now he wasn't the Tail-less Tailed Beast, but a simple fisherman who wanted to see what all the fuss was about for his little girl who wanted to be a shinobi when she was older.

The cover story was probably a good fit. It was close enough to the truth, anyways.

A waiter came in a little while after. Kisame ordered a couple of shrimp sandwiches and a strawberry shake before sitting back against the plush booth seat.

::

Shino didn't know why he was brought to this cafe. For one, he didn't even know his father frequented cafes such as the one they were currently sat in. The Aburame were thought to be reclusive and certainly lived up to the stereotype, and he'd only started visiting different venues when he started to go out with Team Eight. Granted, those places were mostly cheap bites, had happy hours, or worked with daily specials because Sakura _insisted_ they learn how to spend their money in moderation, but it was still a very un-Aburame thing to do.

Shibi sensed his son's growing contemplation and dutifully elaborated on their outing. "You have been accepted to participate in the Chuunin Exams," he said. "I believed it to be something to celebrate."

Shino narrowed his eyes. "But I haven't... _succeeded_ in anything. Why should I be rewarded for it?"

"It is still an accomplishment."

"Though an accomplishment—"

"Shino," he interrupted quietly. Sadly. "Are you truly suspicious of a father taking his son out for lunch?"

The genin visibly swallowed and lowered his gaze to the menu on the table. "I apologize."

A waitress came by and took their orders, Shino softly requesting salmon skin salad and oyakodon and Shibi with his own sansai udon. She smiled and went off to alert the kitchen of their meals.

A small frown touched Shibi's lips as he turned to look at his son who'd taken to inspecting the ice in his cup of water. Oyakodon? That was a much heavier meal than what he'd usually get. "I did bring you here on account of the exams, that I cannot deny," he said. "But your words from moments ago have only... how should I say... made me worry more."

"Father—"

"You no longer walk with the same purpose you did just after your graduation, you have not visited with the other members of the clan in weeks, and you hide things that I can no longer fathom an understanding to." Shibi's brow knit as his voice started to strain. "There are bags under your eyes and you look so tired I fear... I fear that maybe there will come a morning when you will no longer wake—and even then, how would I learn of such an occurrence? You stay in our house no longer than three days at a time and today is the first I have seen you since Monday."

It was Saturday.

Shino had gone a few shades too light and tried to bury himself in his high collar to no avail, the terrible guilt swirling in his stomach enough to make him nauseous. He knew he'd been distant ever since The Incident, but it wasn't like he couldn't help himself. It was something he and his team had gotten themselves into, and it was something _only_ he and his team were going to get themselves out of. Until they found a solution to their little problem, they had to keep as many people out as possible.

It was a shame Kurenai found out, though he supposed it was only a matter of time, but everyone else? His father? Kiba's mother and sister?

He couldn't do that to them.

"Please, Shino," his father whispered. "Tell me what is going on, _please_ —I can do nothing if I know nothing."

Shibi's eyes were pleading, worrying, and something inside Shino's chest died at the sight of his father on the brink of tears. He wanted to tell him everything—the blood that'd been shed, the bodies that rotted away, the seals that burned their tongues.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't make another target.

"There's nothing going on," he said, the unconvincing lie slick between his teeth. His father sighed tiredly and looked away. "If there was a serious problem, I would have long since informed you of it."

Dubiously, Shibi turned his head back to quietly regard the boy who sat on the other side of the table but felt so, so far away. "Would you, truly?"

The waitress came back with a tray and a smile as she placed their orders in front of them, bidding a cheery _enjoy!_ before retreating to carry out her other duties.

They ate their meals in silence and Shibi, through all his terrible memory, never forgot that Shino never gave him an answer.

::

Kisame chewed one of his sandwiches thoughtfully and mentally cycled everything he just heard.

Aburame Shino, he knew that name. His pup's teammate.

He wondered if whatever was going on with him was something he needed to look into.

 _ **One Day Until the Dawn of the Bittersweet**_

"These are going to be the most trouble. In terms of physical capabilities, at least," Sakura said as she held up three of Shino's handwritten files. She sat in the corner of her bed and leaned against the joining point of two of the walls, a pillow in her lap and Akamaru curled at her ankles. "Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Neji, and Lee. One could say they're guaranteed the chuunin rank based on their stats and the rumors that've been going around."

Kiba's back was on the ground with his legs kicked up against the side of the bed and his arms high in the air as he twisted an inked scrolls back and forth, scrutinizing it. "So we make sure if we go up against them, we lose. Got it. Anyone who's gonna play mind games?" He squinted. "Dammit, where the hell am I s'pposed to put that locking sequence?!"

The floor could barely be seen anymore, so littered with the secondhand cushions and saggy beanbags they'd managed to find at a couple of yard sales and thrift stores. They were old and stained, but clean and comfortable and they definitely made it a hell of a lot easier for three people to sleep in a small room with a single twin sized bed.

"Yamanaka Ino. The Yamanaka have a distinct technique that, in its simplest terms, plant their consciousness in the mind of their choosing. The best ways to repel such a technique is to keep them distracted or disoriented." Shino twisted around from his spot on a yellow polka-dot cushion and reached into the pocket of his jacket that hung on the desk chair alongside Kiba's. "Our minds are off limits. Why? The risk of discovery is too high—we must avoid Yamanaka-san at all costs."

"And Nara Shikamaru," added Sakura. "He's lazy, but his intelligence might be the highest I've seen in Konoha. When he's around, no prying, observing, or acting different than what he expects of us."

Kiba threw his scroll somewhere behind him and rubbed his eyes. "So we avoid Shikamaru too. Awesome. Anyone else?"

She picked up a few more notes. "For the others you need to worry about their signature moves. Hyuuga Hinata and her clan's taijutsu style and kekkei genkai, Akimichi Chouji for his clan's body weight manipulation, Tenten for her weapons mastery, and Naruto for his shadow clones and the Kyuubi."

Four silencer seal tags stayed mounted above their heads.

Shino flipped through his copy of the Bingo Book, one Sakura had given him a few days ago after she lifted three off some unsuspecting gate guards (Konoha's security was _commendable_ ). He searched the pages until he reached the Top Twenty and found a set of yellow eyes on paper, disgustingly cheerful and sickening in their mockery.

A deep-set hatred throbbed in the back of his head. "What do we do," he started slowly, and Sakura's and Kiba's attention moved to him, "if something we don't account for becomes a problem? Iwa deciding to continue the war they started? Uchiha Itachi making another appearance? Orochimaru paying his old village an unwanted visit? The Chuunin Exams are the most chaotic and unstable in terms of organization and the last two have been noted as possible threats in the Aburame Clan meetings. If I were planning something, it would be the perfect time to strike."

Shino was too busy considering the book and Kiba too occupied in thoughts of mottled skeletons and experiments that they didn't see the tightened line of Sakura's jaw at the last name, nor the way her fingers creased the neat pages of research.

Akamaru raised his head to whine questioningly, but halted as she pressed a finger to her lips and shook her head. There was a quiet fear in her eyes, murky in the way only a person who grew up in horrors could be.

Just as quick as her dread came, it left, and Akamaru reluctantly lowered his head back onto the covers with another secret on his tongue.

"If any of them show, we do what we can," said Sakura. Kiba fully sat up, incredulous.

"What, you got a plan? 'Cause if you do, I'm in."

"It's illogical to jump into agreements without listening to all the conditions first," Shino reprimanded. He turned his gaze to the other. "Elaborate?"

She said nothing for a long few seconds before she shrugged. "We wing it."

Kiba burst into laughter as Shino's face fell at such an answer, but he knew he couldn't come up with a better answer and sighed. Sakura slipped off the bed and sat between her two teammates. "If we need to reveal ourselves, we stop it from being an incident. We keep it out of sight, under wraps, away from investigation. And just like everyone already thinks, we're plain, unmentionable Team Eight."

Kiba grinned and put a fist forward. "A hotheaded idiot."

Sakura did the same. "An antisocial book nerd."

And Shino. "The class creep."

"We'll get through it," Kiba said. "We got through everything else."

"And we're not going to die here," promised Shino. "Why?"

Their hands unclenched as they reached out and grasped each others' wrists, fingers, arms, tangling their limbs together and resolving to never let go. The tops of their heads met in the center, and Akamaru huddled in their middle.

Sakura's grip tightened. "Because the weak are meat, the strong _**eat**_."


	26. Unlucky

Team Eight melded into the confused, chattering crowd that surrounded the entrance to the first examination waiting room. Two smug-looking genin stood guard at the door, but their smirks and postures only made Kiba narrow his eyes.

"They're the gate dudes that always check us in," he murmured as he assessed their younger guises. Akamaru wriggled his nose pointedly as he rested in the front of his partner's jacket. "Same smell of syrup and ginger root, too. This a test or somethin'?"

"It has to be," Sakura replied in an equally low tone as she stared up at the room number above the door— two-oh-one. "The waiting room's on the third floor. We're on the second." She wore her typical sleeveless navy shirt but this time with a gray tank top hoodie thrown over to cover up her hair and lower her chances of immediate attention.

Shino hummed. "So a genjutsu, then. Surely a handful of teams have noticed but are biding their time as well. Why? Because a test such as this would have the few genjutsu types here realize they've been tricked. No one is making a move towards the stairs. Everyone who knows is waiting it out, just as—"

A sudden shout cut their conversation short as a genin dressed in a jumpsuit was thrown back and landed in a clumsy heap on the ground. Eye-straining green, neon orange weights, and an immaculate bowl cut. Kiba shivered.

" _Holy shit_ he looks like Maito Gai. Did sensei ever say anything about him havin' a kid?!"

"Rock Lee. The only relationship he has to Maito-san is being his student, astoundingly," assured Shino.

"You sure? You're shitting me." Akamaru yipped quietly and Kiba shook his head. "Right, right, stay focused. Sorry. So— Maito's team. That kid can't really get tossed like that. He's got, like, four of those monster weights on, and we only know how much they weigh 'cause that's the team sensei got your weights from." He nudged Sakura. "And the guy he's with's the Hyuuga we're worried about. Neji. Y'know, noble clan, total sticks up their asses. He wouldn't be caught dead with a lousy teammate, 'else he woulda been transferred by now."

Sakura tilted her head in acknowledgement as her eyes roved over the rest of the participants. She was right to have walked the streets those few times prior to the exams since most of the faces are vaguely familiar at worst, very little of them completely foreign to her at all.

Tenten, the last member of Maito's team, rushed to Lee's side as murmurs of disapproval rippled through the audience. Sakura ignored them too in favor of scrutinizing one of the exasperated-looking figure leaning in the shadows and watching the confrontation with a humored tint to his eyes.

But then he blinked and moved his gaze to her.

"Unfair?" the guard with the bandana scoffs. He addressed everyone gather with a puffed chest and a pointed smile, but Sakura paid no mind and nodded across the room. "We're being _nice_ to you brats—you think these exams are for weaklings? I've seen people quit after realizing what they have to go through to get to the top, people getting crippled for life because they pretended to be strong."

Kankuro took the nod with a lazy wave of his own and motioned towards the guards, the word _boring_ silently dripping from his mouth as he rolled his eyes.

The second guard with the spiked hair continued on with a sadistic grin. "Chuunin need to be leaders. You're going to have missions that fail, subordinates that'll die—"

Kankuro gestured to his head with a decidedly mocking smile and Sakura shrugged, giving her hood a little tug with one hand and using her other hand to rub at her cheek with only her middle finger. He snorted.

But then something in his face changed as some sort of realization crested his skin like the sunset. His lips pressed into a grim line and he turned away, his blonde teammate oblivious of their discussion and watching the slowly churning disaster like the rest of the crowd, and his red-haired teammate stony-faced as he intently eyed green jumpsuit.

"Uh, Sakura? What was that?"

She looks over at Kiba's confused face, unconcerned. "Hm?"

"That whole— _that_. That weird—secret talk—that—that _thing_! With that _Suna_ guy! _That_!"

She almost snorted at the absolutely bewildered look on his face, but she kept her expression calm at the sight of a familiar genin team strutting up the corridor. She sighed as she tugged her hood farther down her face and slunk back closer to the back of the crowd, prompting her teammates to follow. "Later," she muttered. "Shino, I found your strain of _coccinella septempunctata_."

Coccinella Septempunctata, or more colloquially, the seven-spotted ladybird— _seven_ being the key word in the name.

Just another code to memorize.

Sakura's words sobered her teammates enough to close themselves off and observe. Uchiha Sasuke they had to worry about most, but Naruto was a loose cannon in the gears that cranked the exams. Depending on his actions and recklessness he could either automatically fail his team strictly on the basis of his conduct, or propel them to the finals solely on his unpredictability.

As much as they supported Naruto and his endeavors, he was an anomaly in their calculations and sometimes they hated the thought of having to wait mere seconds after one of his decisions to act.

One of the guards punched Tenten in the face, forcing her backwards and onto the floor. Kiba's lips turned down into a shadow of a sneer, but other than that, Team Eight was unresponsive.

"Argue all you want," Sasuke said as Team Seven breached the crowd. Hinata stood to his left and Naruto remained on his right, and his voice was as silky monotone as it always was. Sakura's eyes flickered back over to Kankuro's face quick enough to catch the genuine distaste in his grimace, "but you _will_ let me through."

 _Me_ , not _us_.

"While you're at it," he continued, "take down the barrier you created with this genjutsu. I have business on the third floor."

Shino glanced around the room as the murmurs started up again. He didn't know why Sasuke's play was to make everyone immediately aware of just how much of a threat he was—arrogance, perhaps it was, and it was that sort of arrogance that was going to get him and his team one of the first ones targeted if they made it to the Applied portion. "He truly doesn't care for others, does he?"

Akamaru whined softly in reply.

The smug grins fell off the guards' faces.

"Well, well, look at you," Bandana mused.

"Noticing right off the bat. Cute," Spiked-hair frowned.

"Hinata," Sasuke announced abruptly. Her head shot up and she blinked rapidly, hands folded neatly at her front. "You realized it too, didn't you? Your intelligence has improved the most of our team—"

Sakura closed her eyes and brought a hand to her temple. She knew Naruto had a big mouth, but only an idiot that made a scene in one of the most politically-charged events of the year would be handing out neatly packaged information like pamphlets.

"—so? What do you think?"

Her cheeks flushed as all the attention in the room shifted to her, and she gulped. "The-The second floor..." she started timidly. "We... We're only-only on the second... floor..."

Spiked-hair shrugged. "Well done, I guess. But all you've done is catch on." Before anyone had a halfway chance to blink, he flung himself onto his hands and flipped to bring a heel down onto Sasuke's head—and Sasuke, quick enough to notice and quick enough to react, swung a leg forward in retaliation.

But then Lee was between them with their shins in his hands and his arms barely trembling with the strength to keep two simultaneous attacks at bay, his face blank. He was a far cry from the waif that'd been tossed on the ground minutes ago. Fast, too. Ridiculously so.

Sakura didn't fail to notice the shift in Hinata's posture when she withdrew her defensive stance back into her meek reservation.

Spiked-hair retracted his leg and shunshinned away, leaving the crowd's murmurs to grow again as they dispersed as Lee's team congregating around him. Kiba turned his back towards most of the participants and Shino and Sakura fell to his front. A hound sense of smell wasn't the only notable trait of the Inuzuka, and it was odd that many seemed to forget a canine's attuned ears.

"Lee planned to slip under the radar to avoid attracting attention 'til he saw Sasuke. He was goin' on about a whole 'potential rival' sort of deal, and I guess he wanted it enough that he threw his old plan out the window," Kiba informed, his head tilted slightly to the right. He rolled his eyes. "I know I do dumb shit all the time, but this is pretty bad. No wonder all the other hidden villages hate our damn guts."

Shino exhaled tiredly, unable to disagree. "At least we know what we're up against. Let them flaunt their abilities all they want—it just makes it easier for us to deal with. Why? If everyone else thinks Konoha is full of idiots, there's not much else we have to do."

Sakura, on the other hand, couldn't help but observe the Konoha genin she could spy from her spot half-hidden behind her friend. A powerhouse did not automatically equate to a good shinobi, as covert ops and subterfuge were their primary arts, but it seemed _that_ message was one that had been forgotten. She thought of her father and his towering gait, his earth-crumbling techniques, his cries for bloodshed on the battlefield.

"Sakura?"

He could be all the things a shinobi shouldn't, but he still climbed to the top by slipping through the mist. Acting a destructive force to be reckoned with was a right to be earned, not something genin-nobodies should be puffing out their chests for. She knew they were all young, stupid, inexperienced, and the most likely to die on the front lines if war ever swung onto their doorstep, so she knew—so they _all_ should know—that sticking their necks out here and now was more suicide than bravery.

Her eyes drifted back over to Neji as he took a sure step towards Sasuke.

"You, there," he said. "Identify yourself."

"I don't need to answer to you."

She turned her attention back to the rest of her team, deadpan and unsurprised. "I never knew Sasuke had such a wonderful personality."

Kiba laughed.

And even though they all seemed to migrate to a lighter, exam-unrelated topic, it wasn't beneath their attention at how Hyuuga Neji never once acknowledged the heiress of his own clan and treated the spot where she stood like there was nothing to be seen.

As the three of them spoke, Akamaru wiggled out of his jacket confines and landed on the ground with the slight _click_ of his nails. He watched Team Seven walk to the other end of the hallway and, with a slight wrinkle to his nose, also watched as Lee broke off from his own team with a few choice words and followed after them. His ears flopped about his neck as he met his partner's eyes, the latter nodding once before meeting two questioning looks.

"Jumpsuit went after the ladybirds. Should we care?"

A few black insects trickled out from Shino's sleeve and down his pant leg before disappearing into the grooves of the wooden flooring. "Not primarily," he answered. "But if there's anything that can be learned, we will learn it. Why? I would be a fool to deny us even more information to deal the cards in our favor." He glanced once more around the room. "It would be unwise to stay here much longer as the crowds are slowly migrating to the true waiting room. Shall we go?"

Kiba swept his arm in a wide gesture. "Nerds first."

Shino's face barely twitched. "What an asinine attempt at humor—"

"Well someone's gotta be the funny one and I'm tellin' you right now it sure as hell ain't you—"

Sakura cracked a small smile at their banter as she fell into step beside Akamaru just as an unsettling feeling slithered along her collarbone and gripped at her jaw. A slight nudge of fur at her ankle alerted her that her discomfort was not as hidden as she hoped it'd be, but all she could offer was an apologetic shake of her head before trying to tune back in to the argument in front of her.

All she wanted was a moment of peace, of the luxury of knowing nothing else could go wrong—but she also knew she couldn't have that. Not now.

Not until both Danzo and Hiruzen were dead.

Akamaru merely turned his nose down to the ground, snuffling worriedly but keeping quiet. Secrets were what they were trying to unearth and bring to light to all those who deserved to know, but Sakura had many of her own and many both Kiba and Shino hadn't a chance to consider because they didn't see what _he_ saw.

And he wondered just how much longer it was going to last.

::

Kisame sat on a bench about a block from where he tracked down the first part of the Chuunin Exams to be. He managed to sit and contemplate for an hour before he hunkered over to the nearest overhang with a slight scowl to his lips and beads of sweat dripping from his brow. Maybe he didn't do too well in burning hot temperatures, sue him—Kiri's population barely knew what the sun was and that was still better than Ame, so excuse him for doing so poorly in a place that rained no more than three days of the year and had more green than they knew what to do with.

He sighed. Konoha had always been the place he dreamed of taking to Sakura to one day where she'd be able to see a bright blue sky and feel the warmth of summer, something Ame could never offer.

 _'But I guess Konoha found her anyways.'_

"'Scuse me, could I get through that door?"

Kisame snapped out of his reflection and looked over his shoulder to see that he was half in front of the door to one of the, what he guessed, were one of the lesser known weapons shops in the village. A quick glance through the window showed a couple of people milling about—locals, mostly—and he dawned an apologetic look before quickly stepping to the side. "Sorry 'bout that. Didn't see where I was standin' nin-san."

The stranger stopped just short of the door handle and stared at up him. "Nin-san?" they mused. "Not 'kunoichi-san' or somethin' or other?"

"Oh, uh, should I have, uh—"

She shook her head, an amused grin stretching her face. "No, no, don't backtrack, it's refreshing. Any particular reason why y'called me that?"

He shifted his weight and shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno why there's a distinction anyways. Everyone defends and fights for your village all the same, right? So the only difference should be ranks with everyone gettin' the same shot at it."

He was no stranger to the gender imbalance in the shinobi career bubble. He'd seen it enough to know it was a problem and grew up in a village where kunoichi had to be a little tougher because the populace was a little bloodier. That too could've been another reason why it'd been better for Sakura to grow in Ame than to have her watch her back every second in Kiri.

Then again, she was supposed to be an Akatsuki.

He still couldn't think of anything that was a worse fate than that.

The stranger's eyes solidly bore into him for a whole seven seconds (he subconsciously counted) before she threw her head back and barked out a laugh.

::

Nothing interesting normally happened when she was out and about the village, so Tsume was delightedly surprised to find herself spending her shopping trip in the company of someone she bumped into on the street. He startled her so much with his polite rhetoric that she'd smacked him on the shoulder and, when she found out he was visiting, offered to show him around the village.

His name was Kenta (or at least that was what he told her) and he was a fisherman from the outskirts of River Country who'd come to Konoha half on business, half on leisure. When she mentioned a family, he spoke of a younger daughter left in the care of her grandpa while he was tied to wherever his work took him.

There was something sad in his eyes when he talked about her and Tsume really felt for him, one parent to another. "My job gets dangerous sometimes, but it's something, you know? I haven't seen her in a while 'cause of it and..." He sighed. "I hope she knows I'm doing what I think's best for her."

Tsume and Kuromaru shared an understanding look. A father who had to travel for work to support his family was a truth for both shinobi and civilians alike, and at least Kenta made the effort to see her as much as possible. And it must've been even harder on him—she didn't think she heard any mention of another parent in the picture.

But it didn't meant that she was going to lower her guard for a kindred soul. Sure, he _said_ he was a fisherman and he _said_ he was a father, but how did she know there was a truth to anything he'd said? Usually she wouldn't be so skeptical of a burly man that stepped as heavily as his build allowed, but the Exams were a tense time and Konoha was simply crawling with foreigners and underlying threats.

Kenta was a man that smelt of salt and the sea and was kinder than most—and if he happened to be everything he said he wasn't, she hoped at least that part of him was real.

They were at one of the many parts Konoha had to offer, one just blocks away from the Jounin Standby Station, when Kenta gazed up at the clouds from his spot on the shaded side of the bench he shared with Tsume.

"About the Exams," he started, and she immediately grew wary. Had she been right to be suspicious? That he was building the conversation to mine for information? "Are they... safe?"

Her mind blanked. "Safe?" she repeated dumbly.

"Er, well, I guess you could say maybe I came to Konoha for a lil' more than what I said before," he answered. His eyes never left the blue, blue sky. "My kid, too smart for her own good sometimes—at least since I saw her last... She wants to be the best shinobi out there and even though I don't want that life for her, who the hell am I to stop her?" Kenta's shoulders dropped. "Who in the goddamn hell am I stop her?" he whispered.

The trees above them stood as still as a painting, not even a puff of a breeze to flit through and help quench the slowly scorching heat, and for once, Tsume was stunned to silence. Kuromaru, though, had always been more level-headed than his counterpart.

"Parents always believe that it's their duty to keep their pups safe, and though it's not something I would argue against, I don't think it to be the primary directive," he stated thoughtfully. Kenta blinked at the ninken who spoke in a deeper voice than his own. Tsume didn't know if he was surprised her partner was capable of speech or something else. "Yes, pups are to be protected, but never forever. There will always come a time that they're destined to leave the pack, but until then you must be a guide, not a bearing. It's in that way you will never lose them."

Tsume frowned to herself. Guiding or protecting, she felt that she hadn't been doing a good job on either lately. Hana was her first born and she'd been stricter because she'd been alone and scared—a parent and clan head whose husband wasn't around as much because Konoha wanted his deep cover skills and he didn't know how to say _no_.

But then after having Kiba and running off that no-good ex of hers (how frustrated she'd been then because all he had were flimsy excuses while she balanced being a clan head and raising their— _her_ —children and still had enough time to kick his ass), she relaxed. She clearly remembered what she thought then; since she raised Hana find and that girl turned into a successful veterinary medic next in line to take the clan seat, maybe she wouldn't be as harsh in raising Kiba.

In the beginning, though, she hounded him especially after he and Akamaru met and _especially_ after proving themselves a tad more reckless than his sister and the Haimaru brothers. It wasn't until she met Sakura that she started to back off. Kiba had finally made his first friend outside the clan while in his first year at the Academy, and as cold and smart and antisocial as Sakura was, she was _there_ for him.

 _When was the last time Sakura visited like she had when she was younger?_

Then Team Eight was formed with Shibi's son seamlessly weaving into the group as far as she could see. Tsume met him a couple of times at the team's inception and not much more after, and all she could recall was how relieved she was at how they got along so well. She'd ask Kiba about it, but—

 _When was the last time Kiba was home? The last time he sat at the dinner table with his family? The last time she didn't open his door to find a clumsily made bed that hadn't been used in days—weeks?_

Tsume's hand twitched.

 _Why did Kiba break that mirror?_

Her canines ground together.

 _And why the hell hasn't she been doing anything about it since then?_

"—t for you to be worried."

"But kids've died in there, haven't they? What if—"

"All graduates are assigned a competent, highly capable sensei. At least that's what I know in terms of Konoha's organization." Kuromaru tilted his head. "You said you intended to bring your daughter here when she's old enough?"

"That was the plan. Always thought Konoha would be the safest place for her."

Tsume quickly lent an ear to Kenta and Kuromaru's conversation as if she hadn't lost herself in thought in the first place. Kenta, for a civilian wizened by tedious labor, seemed generally respectful and unconcerned at having something explained to him by a ninken. A part of her still wanted to be suspicious and question just another one of his quirks, but the more she listened to him the more she believed he was who she saw: a worker swept by the tides, a father who would do anything for his kid, a stranger with eyes too tired and shoulders slumped too low.

Kenta scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I jus' hope I'm doin' the right thing."

Tsume threw an arm behind the bench, the sun shining through her spiky brown hair. "Why wouldn't you be? You're a pretty good guy as far as I can tell and your kid loves you, right? There's nothin' to worry about."

He smiled at her words, but when she caught sight of it, her chest grew somber so fast that it sent chills up her spine. "Thank you," he remarked quietly. His hair, as black as the depths of the ocean, shimmered with dark blue when sunlight spilled past the leaves above at just the right moments. "But I know I've never been a good man, and no matter how much I try to change for her... there's already so much." He turned towards Tsume and Kuromaru. "And I know I can't."

::

It took nearly all of Kiba's willpower to not double over in laughter as he stuffed part of his jacket into his mouth and bit down. Sakura's expression was half caught between disbelief and amusement, her mouth hanging open just slightly.

"It was _how_ bad?"

Shino checked their position tucked against one of the walls of the true waiting room. The colors they wore were dark and muted enough to pass as just another team in the building and they'd relocated their hitai-ates to less assuming spots on their persons—Sakura's on the top of her head hidden by her jacket, Kiba's around his neck and partially hidden behind Akamaru's form, and Shino's around his thigh so that he could easily shield it with his overcoat if the situation called for such.

The closest team to them was situated just about a foot away, so he kept his voice low. "Imagine our first attempt at the obstacle course. Then imagine that attempt while that course was one fire." Sakura pressed her fist to her mouth and Kiba bit down even harder into the thick, gray cloth. "Had there not been such a... courteous intervention, I propose Sasuke would have, as you say, 'had his shit pushed in.'" Kiba buried his face into Akamaru and shook with stifled laughter. "Why? If he thought he was a match from anyone on Team _Elephantidae_ —"

Elephantidae. The family class of one of the most notorious land mammals with a prowess in physical, close-range fighting, much like Team Gai's specialization.

"—then he is horribly disillusioned in what he thinks the severity of these exams is."

The jacket finally dropped from Kiba's mouth as he sat up and drew in a deep breath and parted his lips to reply, but he was stopped short when the doors swung open and Team Seven traipsed in with no preconceived notion to slip in quietly or avoid drawing attention to themselves.

He sunk in on himself just a bit as the rest of the participants minutely taper their conversations to size up the new competition.

God, Naruto needed to swatch himself for a new color to wear.

Kiba saw Hinata gulp as her eyes darted from genin to genin and as she took in the tense, unrelenting atmosphere that suffocated the space around them. She was so nervous it was palpable, and he wondered if she always wore her heart on her sleeve or if her shyness simply shadowed everything else.

"Sasuke-kun! You're late!" A pair of arms appeared and wrapped themselves around Sasuke's neck as a body pressed against his back. "It's been so long! I was waiting and waiting and—"

Sasuke pushed her arms off and took a step to the side, ignoring the slight stumble Yamanaka Ino took as she was thrown off balance. Hinata grimaced as much as she allowed herself and opened her mouth shakily. But just as quickly as she decided to protest, her teeth click back together and she ducked her head once Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji ambled towards them.

"What, are you guys taking this troublesome exam too?" Shikamaru sighed. Naruto puffed out his chest and got up in his face despite Hinata's sudden fearful expression and outstretched hand.

"'Course we are! If the dumbass trio can get in, so can we!"

"Quit _calling_ us that. Damn, what a bother."

From deep in the crowd, Sakura could feel a distinct headache creeping up the side of her skull as Shino tiredly exhales. Not even a minute in and they were already causing a scene while simultaneously dragging another team into the mix. Akamaru grumbled something and Kiba groaned.

"Should we, uh, join 'em? Since we're all part of that 'Rookie Nine' bullshit some people have been callin' us, and it'd be kinda weird if we didn't go. Since Naruto knows us and Chouji knows Shino," he said. Sakura pinched her temple with her calloused fingers as she considered it. The point he made would go directly against their choice to keep out of Shikamaru's way, but it might make him more suspicious if they didn't decide to jump in on the fun.

She ran a hand over her face and tucked any loose strands of hair back under her hood. "Joining them now could jeopardize our chances at these exams," she answered. "If that happens, it could be years until we get another shot at this."

"And they are doing nothing but making these trials worse for themselves, as—"

A new voice axed Shino's sentence in half. They turned their heads back to the group of their former classmates. "Hey, you guys should be a little quieter," the voice offered genially. "Rookies, right? Fresh out of the Academy, but there's only... one, two, three... six of you? Where are the other three?"

Shino and Kiba immediately angled themselves so they were hidden behind a taller group of genin, but Akamaru whimpered and wriggled to grab their attention. His partner's head snapped up to find Sakura frozen, her nails catching the skin of her upper arm and her full attention on the scene unfolding at the entrance.

He took her arm and _pulled_ , dragging her to the side as Shino held an arm out to keep her from tripping backwards. "Dude," he hissed. "What's wrong? Do you know him?"

"You can't keep going on like that, cute faces and all," the new arrival continued. His hair was silver and pulled back into a neat ponytail with his bangs perfectly framing his Konoha hitai-ate. "You aren't in school anymore and this isn't a field trip."

Ino's lips curled in offense. "And who the hell are you, acting so damn haughty?!"

The stranger smiled. "Yakushi Kabuto." Sakura snapped out of her stupor, her normally blank face erupting in understanding and fear. "Take a look around. That team behind you—they're from Amegakure, and I don't think you'd want to annoy them before the Exams even _start_."

She tuned them out and met her team's worried stares. "Konoha's compromised." She said it barely above a murmur and her lips didn't move, Shino's hand around her shoulder tightening ever so slightly. "The threats we talked about and the possibilities we—our luck has never been the best, but I never knew it would be this bad."

Kiba's moves his weight from foot to foot as his eyes blow as wide as twin moons as he tried not to make any wild gestures with his hands. "The hell do you mean? What are you—you're saying that guy—"

"I _know_ him," she whispered fiercely. Endless gray skies flashed in her memory, as do scorpion tails and wooden parts and a young teenager with round glasses dragging a lifeless body behind him at the command of his red-haired master. It was only a grand total of one time she'd seen him because he never came to Ame again since she'd been there, but she never forgot words or faces or ideas, and if she did, that meant she was dead. "I don't know what he's capable of or if he even knows that I know of him, but he's dangerous and he's _not_ a Konoha shinobi."

"Sakura, what—"

"MY NAME'S UZUMAKI NARUTO AND I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO ANY OF YA', YA' HEAR?!"

Team Eight slowly turned towards the outburst, stared for a few seconds, then slowly turned back to each other as the tension in the room swelled and the collective animosity of the participants shot through the roof.

Shino rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses and tried to ignore the fact that he just lost a few of his brain cells. "Anyway." Fatigue seeped back into the bags beneath his eyes as he crossed his arms over himself. "Where have you seen him before? If he's skilled enough to immerse himself in this village for who knows how long without being caught, then he might be more dangerous than we can imagine. Why? He must be an elite to convincingly cover as a genin without rousing immediate suspicions. Did you see him on your own terms?" His face softened in concern. "Or was it through your father's channels?"

Kiba frowned. "Hey—"

"We need to know," he interrupted. Sakura's face was carefully calm save for the slight crinkle in her brow as she ran a multitude of thoughts through her head. A chanced look over her friend's shoulder had her meet Kankuro's gaze for a split second before he quickly looked away and forced a menacing grin as he talked with the rest of his own team.

"... After," she decided, stopping Shino and Kiba's sure-to-be scathing argument before it even began. "I'll tell you after the first exam."

Shino nodded. "Thank you."

When the clock tacked on the wall struck 8:30 am on the dot, smoke ruptured at the end of the room directly opposite of the entrance. An imposing figure swamped by a black trench coat appeared alongside his entourage of gray-uniformed subordinates, the two gate guards from earlier among them.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," Trench Coat grinned, and it was anything but kind. "I'm Morino Ibiki, the proctor for the first section of the Chuunin Exams." He pointed towards the group at the entrance with, aside from the rest of the rookies and Kabuto, now contained three Sound-nin. "The team from Oto! No doing as you please before the Exam even starts unless you want to get failed!"

Bandaged from the top of his head to the tips of his fingers save for a single, wired eye, the team's ringleader looked as apologetic as he pretended to be. "Our apologies. It's our first exam and, well... we flipped out despite ourselves. It won't happen again."

"I trust that it won't," Ibiki warned before he regarded the rest of the room. "Listen up! No fighting without permission from the proctors! And even if we do allow it, no bullshit leading up to the death of your opponent is permitted. Any shithead that decides to screw with me gets disqualified, got it?"

Shino took the opportunity to grab each of his teammates' wrists. He sent three female kikaichu up Sakura's arm and four up Kiba's. One would nestle itself beneath Akamaru's chin, two would be stationed behind each of his friends' ears hidden in their hair, and one would be positioned in the collars of their hoods. A precaution, he liked to call it, so they had a means of soundless communication and a way to find each other if separated.

"Now, exchange your applications for a number and sit in the designated seat. You all will be given the paper for the written portion and further instructions will be given then." He surveyed the silent crowd. "Well? Get the hell on it, you baby-faced degenerates!"

Everyone slowly divided into clustered lines in front of Ibiki and his helpers who were scattered about the room. Sakura looked at all the possible supervisors they could get their numbers from; most of them she'd only seen in passing, maybe on the street or in a grocery store, and Ibiki's mostly engulfed by the genin that decided to size him up. That left Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu, the only ones who would know them based on the sheer frequency they were forced out the gate for menial missions, and hopefully the most likely to give them the least flak for being a Konoha shinobi.

"Eh, let's go with Hagane," Kiba shrugged, his nose wrinkling as he jerked his head. "He's the one that smells like syrup. Easier for mine and Akamaru's noses to deal with than ginger root."

So they did.

But when they eventually make it up the line with their papers in hand and their demeanors polite as they hold them out, Kotetsu eyed them up and down before flashing a pearly-white grin. "Well, whattya know, Unlucky Eight's competing too, eh?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "'Unlucky Eight'?"

"Have you guys _seen_ your mission reports?" he said with a cocked brow. "Dead-end, long-ass missions no one wants and then y'all get ambushed on your last one." He wanted to say more, but then he saw the clear discomfort in their stances, the way the Inuzuka constantly checked over his shoulder at the teams waiting behind them, how the surname-less girl stared him dead in the eyes to _shut the hell up_ , that the Aburame's face was stone cold in warning. Kotetsu quickly snatched their papers from their grasps and replaced them with their numbers before waving them away. "Uh, go ahead and find your seats. Sit quietly 'til Morino-san gives you further directions."

Shino and Kiba were quick to retreat, both acting as if his earlier words hadn't affected them nor acknowledging the few genin who'd overheard that snipped and were now warily glowering after them. Sakura stayed a bit longer, though, maintaining full eye contact with the sentinel from the moment they offered their papers to when she nodded slightly in thanks and turned to follow her team.

Something struck in Kotetsu then as he watched them go from the corner of his eye while he dealt with the next team in line, and for some odd reason, he suddenly recalled an old rhyme from a story his mother always told him as a child.

 _Walls have ears._

 _Doors have eyes._

 _Trees have voices._

 _Beasts tell lies._

 _Beware the rain._

 _Beware the snow._

 _Beware the man_

 _You think you know._

::

Naruto mussed his hair as he suffered a mini-breakdown in his seat. A paper test? In order to be a chuunin? There wasn't anyone in the room more screwed than he was! He barely managed to get through the Academy—scratch that, he didn't get through the Academy and he absolutely failed the final and was only promoted because he saved Iruka-sensei from that bastard Mizuki and now that he thought about it he didn't have any skills to savehimselfnowandhewasgoingtofailandhisteamwasgonnakickhisass—

His head thunked onto the desk and he groaned pitifully. "I'm. So. Dead."

"That doesn't sound very reassuring from someone who said he wouldn't lose to anyone. Where did all that go?"

Just the sound of that voice sent hope fluttering up his chest. He flung himself upright and swiveled right, a blinding grin breaking out of his depression at Sakura with her elbow on the desk and her chin propped up in her open palm. She was so at ease, even at what could be the biggest exam of their lives, but it's so _like_ her that he couldn't find himself to be worried.

"Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed, but quieted down at the half-hearted glare she sent his way. "Sakura-chan!" he repeated in a scream-whisper. "You're here!"

"You thought I wouldn't be?"

"Nah, you're super smart and strong so there wasn't no way you wouldn't show!" She smiled in surprise at his genuine sentiment. "And this paper test is gonna be way easy for you so—" Naruto's reality immediately crashed back down, and he collapsed back onto the table. "I'm so screwed, 'ttebayo!"

He startled when knuckles knocked against the stop of his head, and he whined more out of surprise than pain. When he looked back up it was to Sakura's wider smile—nothing too friendly or grand, just the slight upward curve of her lips that he would've missed if he wasn't looking.

"You'll do fine," she said as Ibiki walked to the front of the room. "Uzumaki Naruto's gonna be Hokage one day, right?"

He nodded his head so forcefully he almost dizzies himself. "Yeah!"

And he really believed her.

::

"There's a number of rules for this test, and I'm only going to go over them once," Ibiki barked as he tapped a piece of chalk against the board behind him. "And I won't be taking any questions either, so stay quiet and listen the hell up!"

Kotetsu sat on one of the fold-able chairs evenly spaced along the edges of the testing room with a clipboard perched in his lap and his pen tracing doodles in the corner of his blank sheet. Ibiki's spiel he didn't care much to listen to, so he tuned out most of it as he appeared as intimidating as he could to the nervous genin bunched together.

But he knew he was distracted. Who wouldn't be after that brief meeting with Unlucky Eight? He and Izumo had never really interacted with them besides checking them in whenever they passed the gates. He wasn't the only one that found it kind of weird that a fresh-out-the-Academy genin team were the ones getting shepherded into the bottom of the barrel D-ranks—the ones done outside the village long periods of time with limited pay. They were mostly past-time missions that shinobi would willingly pick up if they had nothing else to do and were bored out their damn minds, but he never looked into it because he thought that Hokage-sama was giving them some tough love.

Still, he always felt bad for them when they came back exhausted, filthy, and miserable. Out of pure curiosity he'd gone and skimmed through their mission reports and could only grimace at what they had to go through. Then they'd gone and gotten themselves ambushed by a pack of rogues in Wave, and why they were the team assigned to the follow-up of Team Kakashi's disaster, he'd never know.

"—heating caught will have two points deducted for each instance. In other words, there's every possibility that you can be dismissed from this test before the hour's even up. If you want to pass, you'll act like exemplary shinobi or be fuck-all nothing."

Kotetsu's eyes were on Sakura when Ibiki spat out that line, and he's interested in her sudden flinch and tightening of her jaw. Again, strange, but he also had to admit that nearly everything about her team could be classified as strange. They didn't join the other rookies making a fuss earlier, and they were so cautious about other teams overhearing what he had to say. If he didn't know any better, he'd say they were well on their way to what Ibiki dubbed as 'exemplary shinobi'.

"If even one person on the team gets a zero, everyone on the team fails." Stunned outbursts filled the room but were quickly shut down when Ibiki's fist met the wall. "Shut the hell up! Who the hell said you could talk?!"

Kotetsu moved his attention to Shino. He wasn't much different than from what he saw earlier and pretty much fit the Aburame stereotype to a T; reserved, swallowed in clothes despite the heat, and appeared wholly unconcerned with everything around him. But as Ibiki started the time and papers flipped while pencil tips hit wood, he could also see that Shino worked through the problems like he was at school—carefully, thoughtfully, and not like the exam would determine his future as a shinobi.

He squinted, immediately suspicious. Thirty seconds of searching didn't grant him any sign of cheating, so he marked it down on his clipboard.

 _Number 24 Cheating Strategy: ?_

He checked Kiba next. He knew for sure that the Inuzuka wasn't the sharpest kunai in the pouch, according to files and notes in subsequent Unlucky Eight mission reports, so there wasn't any other choice but for him to cheat. But again, it happened, and both him and his canine partner puzzled through the answers like they weren't meant to be solved by the upper-division.

Completely and utterly boggled, he made another note two minutes after his first.

 _Number 43 Cheating Strategy: ?_

Kotetsu monitored the other genin in his line of sight, marking down some point deductions on the most obvious cheating methods like sneaking looks at the paper next to them or passing notes. His last check was on Sakura, and surprise surprise, she chugged along the exam like it wasn't anything serious.

 _Number 13 Cheating Stra—_

He paused. Did Unlucky Eight even understand that they needed to cheat in order to pass the exam? Because they sure as hell weren't smart enough to solve all nine problems on their own... were they?

He bit the inside of his cheek and looked back up. It was only his experience as a well-seasoned chuunin that stopped him from jumping three feet in the air.

Sakura stared straight at him as her hand continued to move fluidly over the paper. That was when he saw it: a small tan insect perched atop her pencil like an extension of the eraser. It was simple, subtle, and allowed perfect communication in a space jam-packed with a slew of chakra signatures and unstable fluctuations.

And he wouldn't have seen it if she hadn't shown him in the first place.

She held his gaze much like she had earlier, three whole seconds of intense green lightning, before she looked back at her paper.

Kotetsu crossed out what he had on the clipboard and rewrote.

 _Number 13 Cheating Strategy: Aburame Kikaichu._

 _Number 24 Cheating Strategy: Aburame Kikaichu._

 _Number 43 Cheating Strategy: Aburame Kikaichu._

His hand hovered hesitantly before he wrote his final line.

 _No points deducted._

::

Kakashi hummed. "It's quiet when the kiddies aren't around. No one begging for missions or whining about the ones I do give them... I almost miss them."

Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi lounged in the Jounin Standby Station as they waited to find out the results of the first exam. They were the only ones on the break floor with most of the other jounin spread out within the village to minimize any sort of threat conceivable. Hosting the Chuunin Exams meant it was a tense time both politically and economically, and they technically should be one of the busy bodies fluttering around Konoha, but their statuses as sensei with genin competing gave them a pass.

"Give it time," said Asuma. He tapped his cigarette over an ash receptacle. "Didn't you hear? This year's first proctor is the one and only Morino Ibiki."

Kakashi sighed dramatically. "That sadist, huh?"

Kurenai forced an air of curiosity around her like the name didn't ring a thousand warning bells in her head. "Sadist?" she questioned. "What sadist?"

"The type that heads the Torture and Interrogation Sector," Asuma informed chipperly as he took a drag. "There won't be any physical torture, but imagine having to sit in a stuffy room with someone whose favorite hobby is cracking heads open and picking at brains. One hour in there might as well be a month anywhere else.

"But there's still a limit, isn't there? There's only so much he can do until it turns into a flat out interrogation," she replied. Kakashi picked up the cup at his side and swirled it a few times.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But I suppose it just depends on the genin." He tilted his head in consideration. "Kurenai-san, do you think your kids would hold up well against someone like that?"

An image of a pitch-black seal swam up from her memory, and she shoved down a humorless laugh. "Maybe," she said, mimicking his earlier words as she glanced up at the clock. 9:45 am. "But I suppose we're about to find out right now."

::

Shino's head was in his hands.

The first exam was officially over, one of the windows was shattered into a million pieces, there was crazy woman aggravating their proctor in the front of the room, and they had five minutes to leave the facility before they were thrown out themselves.

Kiba rapped the desk with his fist. "What's the matter, dude? We passed!"

"My brain _literally_ cannot handle the stress," his muffled voice mumbled. "In the complete absence of common sense, Naruto's ridiculous outburst _motivated_ everyone and _moved_ the proctor and we _passed_ on the basis of idiocy."

Sakura came up behind him and patted his shoulder. "It's something, isn't it?" Shino only seemed to sink further in on himself and Kiba fought the urge to snicker. "Come on, let's tell Kurenai-sensei the good news."

Shino slipped out of his seat and dejectedly slunk out of the room, Kiba following with his arms crossed behind his head and Akamaru nestled happily in his hood. Sakura cast one last look at paper-lined desks before she moved towards the door as well, and just as she stepped out, her shoulder bumped into a Kusa-nin's back.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to run into—"

The woman turned.

And Sakura forgot how to breathe.

The Kusa-nin's dark hair ran past her shoulders and over her chest, her slightly pale face unblemished and her eyes bubbling with something dark before they widened in unfathomable surprise.

"... It was merely an accident," she said. She stretched a hand out to tug the back of Sakura's hood and pull it all the way off her head. At the sight of pink, she filled with an excited disbelief. "No harm done, hm, little pup?"

Sakura flinched violently at the nickname, and the woman grinned as she let her arm drop back to her side. A sudden prickling sensation at the base of her neck had her turn to the side, her hair spilling off her shoulders like ink. The two boys standing by the stairs glared straight at her with guarded expressions while the small white ninken growled, prepared to pounce.

"Is that your team? They look rather upset," the woman hummed. She chuckled at the frozen fear on Sakura's face and leaned in, pink lips a mere millimeter away from the shell of the girl's ear. "Don't be sad our reunion was cut short," she crooned. "I'll be sure to pay you another visit soon, _Ho-shi-ga-ki-chan_."

::

 _ **A/N — Please Read**_

I'm really sorry that this chapter took so long to come out you guys, and I know I said I'd try to update every month, but with how things are looking now, I don't think I see that happening in the foreseeable future.

To make things clear, I am _**NOT**_ abandoning this story. I know it may seem like it at times, but I've spent way too much time going into detail with _Hoshigaki_ that I refuse to push it aside. This story is _**ongoing**_ , will _**update infrequently**_ , and if any of you have any questions, clarifications, or just want to chat, **I will always answer any messages that are sent my way**.

Now the reason for this change in updating is simple:

I'm tired.

I work at a lab for my internship and I'm there every day after my summer classes, both of which will last over the summer and both that will continue into my fall semester with even more classes and even more lab projects. I don't nearly have as much free time as I used to, and the off times I do have I spend catching up with friends, resting, and getting sleep.

Please bear with me, everyone, and thank you a million times over for all of you support!

::

" _Walls have ears._

 _Doors have eyes._

 _Trees have voices._

 _Beasts tell lies._

 _Beware the rain._

 _Beware the snow._

 _Beware the man_

 _You think you know._ "

\- Catherine Fisher, _**Sapphique**_


	27. Verge

The woman pulled back and smiled, dark eyes briefly flashing a dusty yellow as she patted Sakura's cheek once and drifted off to her "teammates". Sakura stood paralyzed, nails digging so far into her skin she could feel quiet dribble of blood winding in her palm lines. The cheek those pale, spindly fingers touched felt as if a thousand snakes were crawling beneath her skin—slimy and writhing and sharp and venomous, _why is he here what is he doing how many more people are going to die_ —

That _touch_ was all she could think about, and she barely noted the hand shaking her shoulder nor the other grasping her wrists and turning them upwards. Everything blurred as she was being quickly dragged out of the building, as pressure was pressed into her hands, as the surroundings changed around her from stuffy tan walls packed with participants to mostly plain white walls with padded flooring beneath her feet.

But what she did notice, though, was the quick sting on that wriggling cheek that twisted her head left.

"... I did not expect you to hit her that hard."

"She hasn't said anythin' in like, _ten_ minutes and she's never spazzed out on me before!"

"Arf!"

Sakura blinked and looked around to take in the fact that she was standing in the middle of her room. Her four hand-drawn scrolls hung at her back and her friends peered at her with unveiled concern. She bit her lip, eyes darting around the room—and then relaxed a touch, seeing that, all four seals were in their respective spots around them. She sighed, the exhaustion crashing into her in a wave. "Sorry," she said. "I lost myself for a bit."

"A bit?!" Kiba repeated incredulously. His hands flung out in front of him. "That creepy lady was all over you like flies on a stupid, dumb shit no one wants to pick up at the park!"

Shino opened his mouth, closed it and scrunched his brow at Kiba, then turned back. "I might not use his choice of simile, but he's not wrong," he admitted. "That woman obviously knew you to some degree—" Sakura looked away, frowning— "so the questions remain: who was she and how did you know each other? She was a Kusa-nin, so that immediately draws upon your time before being brought into Konoha."

They all flinched when Sakura suddenly dropped into one of the ratty bean bags on the ground. With one hand she rubbed her forehead, and with the other she gripped the back of her neck. "He's not a Kusa-nin," she informed them quietly. "I'm nearly a hundred percent sure he's using the _Shoushagan_ and the real Kusa-nin and her team are long dead."

Shino slowly lowered himself onto the threadbare cushion. "That's Orochimaru's technique, Sakura."

Her hands dropped to her sides and she leaned back against the wall. Her silence was unsettling at first, but the more she didn't speak and the longer she avoided their eyes, it amassed to startling beacon of clarity—for Shino, at the very least, and his skin started to pale as sweat broke out on his hairline.

"I was being... hypothetical," he said. "The chances of it truly happening were zero to none. Why? Because I was foolish enough to believe he wasn't a factor I needed to consider!"

Kiba's eyes darted from Shino's defeated posture to Sakura's tired slump. "What-What the hell are you guys talking about?" Akamaru ducked his head and whined, and Kiba sputtered. "No way. No _fucking_ way. That snake bastard _isn't_ in Konoha and _isn't_ in the exams and _ISN'T_..." He trailed off when he realized no one spoke up to tell him any different. He then allowed himself to drop backwards into the sea of pillows and floor seats, snatched the closest cushion, and pressed it to his face to fill the room with his muffled screaming for the next half a minute.

No one stopped him.

But then he tossed the striped pink cushion aside and shot up into a sitting position, eyes blazing and confused and scared. "Sakura, you... How'd you know it was Orochimaru and not some crazy lady?" Shino blinked rapidly and quickly turned to his friend in question, hackles rising. "You knew him, he... he knew—"

"He knew your last name," Shino interjected, near silent. Sakura's jaw nearly cracked at the force of her tension as kikaichu beetles crawled out from behind her ears and from the collar of her hood. "He called you _Hoshigaki_."

The seals around them crackled a bright, dizzying red—the only warning of an outside attempt to break through the silencing barriers. Kiba jumped to his feet, Shino swelled the room with his insects, and a kunai was in each of Sakura's hands.

Four whole seconds passed before the seals glowed blue again and the light faded back into its paper confines. It was ten more seconds until Kiba crept over to one of his seals to check it.

"They're all... still up. No tears in the algorithms or an addition of a stop matrix," he informed them. "Whoever tried to break in didn't make it all the way..." He glanced at the other seals. "Should we take 'em down or-or something? It's—look, we're already in pretty deep shit as it is, I don't know how much, you know..."

Sakura exhaled through her nose. "Keep them up," she said. She looked down at Akamaru as he trotted over and placed his paw on her knee, then looked back up. "I have a lot of things to tell you."

::

Orochimaru nearly gagged on the blood that flooded his mouth as a hand crushed his throat and choke-slammed him into a tree deep in one of Konoha's training grounds. He laughed wetly at the furious glare of his attacker and was rewarded with a tighter grip.

"I should've known," he wheezed. "Little Hoshigaki Sakura, pink-haired and lovely and _alive_. Why be surprised when her doting father is lurking around the village when he's supposed to think she's dead?" He eyed Kisame's disguise. "You're a bit discolored, I suppose, but humor me. Have you known she was here the whole time? Was it a recent discovery? _Oh_ , don't tell me, did you know about this the whole time?" The corners of Orochimaru's lips turned up in the vaguest hint of a smile. "I'm impressed. That's cunning, especially for _you_."

Kisame kept his grip, unfazed at the jabs. "Stay out of her way. She wants to be chuunin and I don't want you fucking it up for her."

"Does she even know you're here, Kisame-kun?"

"And if I ever catch you tryin' ta' break in her apartment again," he continued like he hadn't been interrupted, "I'll snap your bones one by one, piece by piece, and stuff the rest of you into the fresh body of the next shinobi I kill."

Orochimaru chuckled, and though it sounded more like a hack than a laugh, his amusement was as clear as the disgusting shine in his gaze. Kisame loathed people like him—people who toyed with human lives because they could, not because they should. Sure, maybe there were times when he killed and relished in the fight, but he wasn't the kind of sick, twisted fuck that experimented on people for fun.

Kisame opened his fist and dropped the bastard, a slight downturn to his lips. "There're thousands of other lives you can ruin. Leave Sakura's out of it."

Orochimaru pressed a few fingers wreathed in green chakra to the parts of his neck beginning to bruise and stared at his counterpart with clinical fascination. Hoshigaki was never one to shy away from chaotic brutality, and really, someone such as he wouldn't survive without bloodshed. Orochimaru would have expected Kisame to start that earth-shattering fight then and there, bringing both his plans and the exams to a shattering halt. But he hadn't.

All for the sake of one person. And that hadn't changed in over twelve years, it seemed.

"You've always amazed me," Orochimaru said. He glanced at the bright greenery around them, noting all the paths of escape and that Kisame was blocking none of them. "Fearful of nothing towards yourself, fearing everything for her. Thinking nothing of others, thinking the world of her. You're a killer wrapped in sentiment." He hummed. "I've always wondered: why make a weakness for yourself when you could be invincible?"

He said it like it was another one of his riddles or tricks, but there's an unmistakable confusion underlying his words. And even with all the hate he had for him, Kisame couldn't help but feel a little bad, because—

"You've never loved anyone before, have you?" he asked. Orochimaru drew up to full height and scowled in aversion.

"And why would I bother with something as trivial as that?"

"'Cause then you wouldn't be askin' me why I think Sakura's worth all this trouble."

He wasn't surprised when Orochimaru merely rolled his eyes and cast the words aside without a second thought. While it was true they didn't know each other nearly as well as even acquaintances would, he knew just as well that neither had a desire to see that change. But the sannin had the upper hand now—he'd made contact with Sakura and became just one more problem for her to deal with now, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Because if she was in his arms again, he'd take her far from Konoha and the Akatsuki, and they'd have to spend the rest of their lives running away from both.

He never meant that for her. He could never _do_ that to her.

So he kept his distance, all the time wishing he could tell her how sorry he was.

"I don't know what you're doin' here and I don't care, so don't bother explaining," said Kisame, "but I'll say this again. Leave Sakura alone or you'll be dead by next sunrise."

Orochimaru smiled. "I don't make promises." His tongue flickered out his mouth and over his lips. "I'll leave her alone if she stays out of my way, but if two days from now we just so happen to cross paths in the Forest of Death, it might be too good of an opportunity to pass up."

Kisame bared his teeth. "You—"

"It's strange," he interrupted. Sickly eyes turned calculating; intrigued, "that you managed to catch me before I broke the seals to that apartment. They were more difficult than I expected, you know." His smile widened. "What did they have to hide?"

Then he was gone and Kisame was left alone on the grounds, the sun burning high in the air and a light breeze fluttering by. He missed the sea.

::

Kotetsu scrutinized the stack of papers in his work space. Ibiki had collected all the tests from the examination room and handed them off to him for disposal, laughing all the while about how Uzumaki Naruto had turned in a blank test with the only line filled in being his name.

He spun around in his chair once before he wheeled back over to the edge of his desk and picked up the stack. As he leaned back and flipped through it, he scanned for three names.

 _Sakura_

 _Aburame Shino_

 _Inuzuka Kiba_

Once he found them, he tossed the rest beside him and stared at the first paper he came across: Kiba's.

Some were untouched, as to be expected, but as he searched for the answers all the implanted proctors were required to write he realized none appeared on her sheet. His brow knotted as he went through each of the nine questions. One, four, five, seven, and nine were answered, and though four and seven appeared the most worked out, he knew for sure one, five, and nine were correct. Almost textbook.

Sakura's was next. Once again, it was five of the nine questions that were answered: one, two, five, eight, and nine.

Kotetsu stuck his tongue against his cheek and he saw that she also had two well thought out answers, but not four and seven—two and eight. He deposited the sheet next to Kiba's and noted that one, five, and nine are exactly the same, word for word, notation for notation.

He pulled Shino's sheet and laid it down next to his teammates'. Five answered. Three and six thoughtfully considered. One, five, and nine mirror images of the other two exams.

Kotetsu reclined and puffed out a long breath of air, his arms crossed behind his head. So they _did_ cheat, which was good. They passed that part flawlessly with correct, identical answers for one, five, and nine, but each did two other problems the rest of the team hadn't even attempted. His gaze roamed over the three papers again; why just one, five, and nine? Why not share the whole test in case they were graded for actual points? Granted, that would never happen since the tests was engineered to be just a little too difficult for the typical genin to solve—

 _So how did genin get three of them right without cheating the way they were supposed to?_

—and even then it would still be a cumulative score...

He snapped back forward and tracked the answered questions across all three exams. One: All. Two: Sakura. Three: Shino. Four: Kiba. Five: All. Six: Shino. Seven: Kiba. Eight: Sakura. Nine: All.

That was a hundred percent completion rate across the whole team. Divide and conquer. Trust.

Kotetsu's eyes went wide. _'Holy shit, Unlucky Eight was playing around the whole time.'_

He glanced around the empty office, a sudden surge of discomfort winding around his neck. The realization of Unlucky Eight's show of equal teamwork by actually _completing_ the entirety of the exam across _three_ separate papers on their own accord didn't fill him with amazement or interest. No, he felt something unsettling prickling across his skin and an uncomfortable heat in the palms of his hands, like he found something he shouldn't have or he'd been endowed with a secret he could never tell.

Unlucky Eight was... unlucky. And unexpected. Pushed into unwanted missions, ambushed on a C-rank immediately after Team Kakashi's shit show, walking into the exam one step ahead of Morino Ibiki himself...

 _Something wasn't right._

He was required to note anomalies like them and bring it up to his superiors. The oddness was light and not quite enough to rouse reasonable suspicion, but this particular instance wasn't something they'd been asked to look out for.

 _Something wasn't right._

He should tell someone.

 _Something wasn't right._

But then he remembered the looks on their faces when he brought up everything he thought was wrong with their luck.

 _Something wasn't... right._

Kotetsu bit his lip and shoved their papers back in the pile, gathered the whole stack up in his arms, and swept away to the building's main document incinerator.

::

"I first met Orochimaru when I was four. One of my father's colleagues was watching me for the day, the same one who used me as a human shield when I was a baby." Sakura gestured to her left ear and endured the stares pinned to the side of her head. Her room was heavy with silence and damp with anxious energy, a lingering fear of the integrity of Kiba's silencing seals. "I was walking behind the colleague in a hallway when Orochimaru took hold of my upper arm. He'd heard about me from his partner who'd tried to kill me a year prior to that—" Kiba blanched at how casual she sounded— "and didn't believe him. I guess he wanted to see if I was real for himself."

It was... odd, hearing this. It wasn't everything, but it was something, and it was far more than they ever expected.

"I didn't see him much after that. My father didn't like him and kept me away as much as possible, but that didn't mean I didn't know what he was doing." She pressed her lips together. "I knew where his lab was; sometimes the smell was too much and Leader-sama ordered him to stop his experiments until the air cleared, but it would only be a few days until everything started up again."

 _Leader-sama._ They'd never heard that name before.

"Eventually he moved his labs to different places outside Ame for less... interruption," she grimaced. "But I can't forget what he'd done before that. People went in and never came out. He picked up people others wouldn't miss—drunks, addicts, orphans, and all the desperate shinobi that thought they had no one else to turn to. Fear and charisma were his tools, and if one didn't work, the other did." Sakura closed her eyes. "He was surprised to see me because he probably thought I was dead."

"... Dead?" Shino questioned. She shook her head and he backed off the topic with the slight nod of his head. She was telling them so much it almost seemed unfair to her, so it was a question for another time.

If they _got_ another time.

"We're going to see him again," she whispered. "He's already seen me and it's not going to be enough for him. We can avoid him all we want, but he's a sannin for a reason—he won't kill us, I don't think. It's not his style."

Kiba burrowed his face in the front of his jacket. "This is crazy," he murmured. "We can't—This is—" His hands, clasped on the faux fur of his hood, started to shake. "If we tell anyone, they'll kill us. They'll kill us. We tell, they'll say we're crazy and it's an excuse to _kill_ us." He looked up, red-faced, and snapped. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO KNOW HIM?!"

"Me?!" Sakura exclaimed. First, it was shock, because Kiba never... screamed at her before. Or accused her of anything. They'd been friends for years and they'd... he was the first one who'd ever...

Then, it was anger.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she hissed. "You think this is what I wanted? You think I wanted to fuck up our chances? I didn't know he would be here!"

" _But he is_!" he exploded. "He's here and he found you and we're gettin' the worst luck of our goddamn lives 'cause of it!" He yelled a wordless howl and pulled at his already wild hair. He didn't notice Akamaru backing up under the bed or Shino looking between them nervously. "What other secrets you got, huh?" He was on his feet. "You knew about his labs, did you know 'bout the one in Konoha? Huh?! You knew 'bout the Kyuubi too and all the other tailed beasts and we coulda got inta' trouble for that!" He jabbed a finger at her. " _All you ever do is get us inta' fucking trouble_!"

The next thing he knew, the front of his jacket was scrunched in her hands and he was hoisted to the tips of his sandals.

"Don't put this shit on me," she warned. Kiba smacked her hands away and it forced her to take a hard step back.

Shino winced.

"Why not?! Huh?! If Orochimaru didn't know you this wouldn't be a thing!" he shouted. "If you weren't so goddamn smart we wouldn't have figured things out and we wouldn't have gotten caught!" He shoved her. "It's you! You! YOU! WE'RE DEAD 'CAUSE OF _YOU_!"

 _Crack_.

Shino gaped in horror as Sakura's fist connected with Kiba's cheek and sent him crashing into her desk. Akamaru's startled cry echoed in the room, but it was background noise against the sound of his heartbeat thudding in his ears.

"I didn't ask for this," she said. Her chest heaved and her eyes shone, and as Shino looked upon her and the words on the scrolls that shadowed her back—

— _fools who think they can change the world_ —

— _feel to be used—_

— _not a good man—_

— _You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all—_

—he shivered.

"I didn't ask to be born in Amegakure. I didn't ask to be raised in a criminal league. I didn't ask for Hoshigaki Kisame to be my _father_." Kiba said nothing, the rage in his eyes pulsing as his insides went cold. "I didn't ask to be taken to Konoha. I didn't ask to leave home. I didn't ask why Dad left me—I didn't ask why Dad thought I was a mistake, because why else would he not _come back_ for me when he _promised_ he would?!"

Her voice broke, and Shino felt a part of himself break too.

"And if you thought I asked for you to look me in the eye and blame everything on me—that _I_ was what made this team unlucky—" She leaned over Kiba, cold and hurt and made him watch as her face slowly melted back into a chilling blankness— "I didn't."

She shunshinned away.

::

Kurenai set her hands on her waist as she peered down the street. She was sure she had the right time and place for the team meeting planned after the first stage of exams, but it had already been half an hour and she was worried. She wished she could imagine they were simply going for some celebratory ramen like she'd seen Kakashi's team doing. But that would require the events leading up to the exams be much different, not filled with seals, lies, and the fight to simply _live_. So instead she ground her teeth at the ugly feeling unfurling in her gut as the minutes with no sign of her precious students.

"Where could they be..." she muttered to herself. It was a few more painful minutes until she saw Shino in his tell-tale jacket walking towards her from the down the street. She started to smile, but faltered at the sight of a drooping Akamaru in his arms and the absence of the rest of his team.

She frowned. "Shino?" she ventured carefully. Up close he looked even worse than he normally was—which was a terrible thing to note, but he wasn't trying to hide it this time.

"Did something happen? Did you not pass the test?" She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Because it's alright if you didn't, I _will_ get you more opportunities to—"

"We passed, Kurenai-sensei," he interrupted quietly. "We're to meet at Training Ground 44 in two days time at 1 pm sharp; Mitarashi Anko is our proctor and will give us further instructions then."

"Oh." She nodded slowly, that horrible feeling in her gut lightening to something more akin to parental concern. She was pleased and proud and had been hoping to reward them all with a celebratory breakfast upon their passing, but she checked the road again for any sign of her wayward students and found nothing.

"Kiba and Sakura got into a... fight," Shino informed reluctantly. He avoided her eyes as she listened patiently. "It wasn't typical of them. Why? Kiba screamed at Sakura and she punched him in retaliation. I think his jaw is dislocated, but he left before I could reset it." Akamaru whimpered pitifully and he bowed his head. "I apologize for the inconvenience. I will try to get them back as quickly as possible."

He was trying to make himself as small as possible, Kurenai noticed, with the way he hunched his shoulders and how he hadn't faced her once. Whatever Kiba and Sakura fought over must have shaken him enough to reduce him to such a state, and it was such bad—unlucky—timing for them to knock heads during their most important exam to date.

"Were they fighting over something serious?" she asked. It was an honest question and she had every right to know if had the possibility of disrupting the team dynamic. Shino finally raised his head, face riddled with a defining anxiety.

"Sakura found a viper in the grass and Kiba grew angry when she picked it up. Why? He thought she was not being careful and that her indifference to her and our safety could have cost us," he said. "It was not her fault she did not know any better, and it was not his fault because he was scared."

Then, to her continued confusion, he quickly apologized and dismissed himself, toting Akamaru away and merging himself in a crowd of civilians.

Above her, the eyeless depths of a cat mask tilted in consideration before disappearing.

::

 _Konan held the target in her deft hands, pale as the paper that surrounded her. There were fifteen senbon stuck on the board, and though all were clustered in the center circle, they were not dead center, they were not packed as tightly as possible, and they certainly hadn't been aimed with both 100% precision and accuracy. Her face was as beautifully calm as always when she turned to address the small five year old at her side._

 _"You will need to do it again," she said without inflection. "The senbon need to be touching so that you can't see the red painted beneath, and you need to hit the very center every single time. Accuracy is one thing, precision is another. I trust you know the meanings to both words_ _?"_

 _Sakura bobbed her head. "Yes, Konan-san. I'll do better. Promise. More targets?"_

 _She swore she saw a flash of sadness bolt across Konan's face, but it became impassive so quickly she thought she'd imagined it and instead became captivated by the way the woman's piercings shone in the low light the rainy skies had to offer._

 _"Yes. And do you recall why you need to do this?"_

 _"'Cause assets gotta be the best," she replied. She smiled, and there it came again—the momentary crumple in her current guardian's face. "I'll be an exem-pary shinobi or nothin' at all."_

 _Konan's eyes grew distant. "Good."_

Sakura pulled herself back to the present and turned her head slightly to address the person who was leisurely making their way towards her. "Maybe you really did get lost this time," she greeted. "But my tourism hours are from 12 to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, so I'm afraid you have to come back another time."

Kankuro snorted. "What kinda fucked set-up is that? Eight hours across the weekend? You aren't gonna make shit." He crossed his arms and leaned against the nearest tree. "Still, if tourist guides can pass the first part of the exam, I hope I don't die of boredom in the second."

Sakura smiled lightly. She shoved Kiba's acidic words to the far reaches of her mind and dove into this new focus. A minor set back in her social life didn't mean she had to stop herself from diving head first into the catastrophe the exam would no doubt become, so she'd push forward, forward, forward until she met her own end, messy or otherwise.

"The written test did end with a bang," she said.

"And you sat right next to the bomb," he retorted. Sakura patted the spot next to her on the grassy hill that overlooked a handful of lush grounds and felt his hesitation as he took a step forward, paused, then resettled himself against the tree. "Thanks, but no. I'm good over here."

"I'm getting a couple of mixed signals." She shifted around and crossed her legs. "There's nothing too bad about our international relations, I don't think, and I doubt a Suna and Konoha shinobi talking to each other would cause much uproar." His face clouded with uncertainty and she raised an open hand. "Wanna take a seat?"

Her question wasn't weighted enough to force him into a decision between life and death, and though she could understand some of his doubt, she tried to discern why there was so much of it. Kankuro's right hand twitched against his bicep and he stared so hard at the spot at her side that his eyes might as well have popped out of his head. Ultimately, he let both arms fall to the side and scoffed.

"Wonder if you and your team can squeeze your way outta this next stage," he said. He turned and made his way down the path he'd wandered up but not before Sakura's easy voice washed over him.

"I'll meet you at the end of it, Kankuro the Sightseer."

She didn't see the way the corner of his lips quirked up almost against his will. "We'll see about that, Sakura the Tourist Guide."

She listened to his sandals kick against a few pebbles on the beaten-down path until she heard nothing but the faint chirping of the birds that nested overhead. It was only when Sakura was sure he was gone that she turned back to face the horizon.

Sabaku no Kankuro. Middle child born to the Yondaime Kazekage. One child is to be the successor the Kage seat, another child had received the Ichibi, the last child was left to their own devices.

 _Which label did he fall into?_

He was nervous in their brief confrontations and it was hard not to notice, especially when he sought her out only to leave as quickly as he came, so she speculated.

What was he hiding? And if there was something suspicious going on—

What were the chances that it was linked to Orochimaru? Because one way or another, she had to figure this out, and if no one was going to stand by her side and help her, she had no problem doing it all on her own.

 _"Konan-san, what happens if I'm not exem-pary?"_

 _Konan turned, hauntingly clear eyes shadowed by the dawn breaking behind them._

 _"Then you'll die."_

::

"Kiba— _stay still_!"

"Ish gon' hur'!"

"Of course it's going to hurt, I have to pop your jaw back into place. Now, please stay still, it'll be over in a few moments."

Kiba pouted, or whatever his face could get close to with two hands sandwiching his face as Umino Iruka's eyebrows knit in concentration. Three, slow, painful minutes of slowly guiding bone back to its normal position left Iruka displeased and Kiba to rub at his sore jaw.

"Ow," he muttered, looking up at the stern expression of his old Academy teacher. "Thanks, sensei."

Iruka held his seriousness for a few more seconds before he dropped it and sighed. He patted the boy's shoulder tiredly. "It's alright, Inuzuka-san." He wondered why he'd stumbled upon Kiba here, sitting in his old seat in his old classroom with the lights off and his head pillowed in his arms as he stared out the window. "You just finished the first part of the exams and passed, right? Congratulations!" Kiba brightened at the praise, but it was duller than what it should've been. "But there was no physical portion. Did you get into a fight sometime after?"

Right on the nose, he guessed, when an annoyed scowl crossed Inuzuka's lips and he tucked his arms against his sides. "I guess," he muttered.

"With?"

"With... With Sakura?"

" _Sakura-san_ dislocated your jaw?"

Iruka didn't keep the shock out of his voice and the genin turned his head away, his scowl growing more severe. Kiba and Sakura were practically inseparable, at least from the little Iruka had seen of them when he taught their final year. They'd skipped class more than half the time, kept afloat by their promptly turned-in assignments and passing exam grades. Their attendance tanked, of course, and he hadn't been more irritated in a couple of uncaring students than when they graduated with—in consideration to circumstance—amazing marks despite never paying attention to their lessons.

He was proud that they _did_ graduate and were on their way to being fantastic shinobi, but he only wished they'd taken their studies more seriously so it didn't hurt them in the long run.

He still remembered those times he'd gone out to try and find and drag them back to class to serve detention. When he did, he always caught Kiba first which allowed Sakura to evade him and to never receive one of his reprimandings.

Iruka tilted his head as a sudden realization washed over him. Sakura had never once been caught cutting class, but yet she would always be back in the classroom when he returned with wayward students and awaited punishment if her friend was getting one too.

He sighed again. Those two were close and pulled through at the end, so how annoyed could he really get?

"You need some fresh air," Iruka decided as he noted the strained way Kiba held himself and how, for the first time, Akamaru isn't there to accompany him. "Come on, I know just the place."

That place, it turned out, was a quaint takoyaki stand a couple minutes from the Academy. He led his old student onto one of the spread out benches and returned the wave the stall owner gave him.

"Your usual, sensei?" she called, octopus snacks sizzling on the grill before her.

"Two, please!"

"Gotcha! It'll be out in a moment!"

He watched as Kiba's gaze darted around the stall and the area around it (Analytical? Precautionary? Either way, he didn't think he'd ever seen such a level of awareness on his face before. He tucked away that bit of information away for another time) before he cleared his throat and kept a calm expression. "How have you been, Inuzuka-san?"

The boy's eyes snapped to his, narrowed and unusually suspicious. "You, uh, helped me with my jaw an' all—"

"Which you should still get checked by a medic when you have the chance."

"—uh, sure, I guess. And now we're at your favorite takoyaki place or somethin'," he answered carefully. "Sorry I was in your classroom. I knew the Academy already let out and no one else was s'pposed to be in. Like, I won't come back anymore and you won't have to realign my face again. Honest."

He quieted when the woman from the stall came by and placed two paper food trays of fresh takoyaki on the bench space between them. Iruka thanked her cheerily and handed over practically double the amount he owed, earning himself a cheek-pinch and a bid that if he needed anything else from her, he'd only have to ask.

Kiba almost flailed when one of the paper trays was nudged into his hands. "Sensei, you didn't have to—"

Iruka waved him off. "No, no, you passed the first exam and this is the least I can do." He pointed with his toothpick. "Now, you were telling me how you've been?"

He'd never seen someone stare so intently at a street stall snack and it almost made him smile, but it was quickly wiped off—practically smacked off, really—when Kiba's shoulders dropped as he pierced one of the dough balls, lifting it up and watching the sauce drip back down onto the tray. He was so... weary in a way that didn't make much sense to him.

There was a type of tired that needed at least six hours of sleep and a comfortable bed and a type of tired that needed soft music in the background and a chair to recline in, but the type of tired he saw in front of him is the type that held the world in its shoulders; that took breaths from mouths little by little until later they're left gasping, wondering why they couldn't breathe, why they'd forgotten how.

This was they type of tired shinobi who came back from A-ranks used to suffer—a little more lost, a little more beaten, a little more gone. This wasn't the tired that came from walking dogs for D-ranks or sending messages for C-ranks.

It was the type of tired that said it was fine, but knew it couldn't be any more.

"There's just a lot goin' on. Exams." Kiba sighed. "It's all good."

"So you decided to go off on your own without Akamaru?"

Iruka's words spurred the boy into a minute panic where he shot to his feet and shifted all around him, looking for any sign of a speck of white fur. When he found none, he dropped back onto the bench.

"Shit," he murmured as he pressed his hands against his face.

"Language," Iruka admonished mildly, unable to keep a newfound concern from blooming in his chest. "Inuzuka-san, that fight you had with Sakura-san..."

Kiba let his hands fall into his lap, takoyaki jostled slightly, and looked to the side. "It's, uh, fine. Just... I just need some time to think. If that's cool."

With no remote idea about what was happening with this old student of his, Iruka heaved a long-suffering sigh before he smiled and gestured to the uneaten snack. "It's still warm, I think. You should eat it before it gets any colder."

Kiba squeezed his eyes and blinked a few times before he picked up the paper tray and a toothpick. "Yeah. Um, thanks for the food, sensei."

"It's no problem," Iruka said easily.

They spent the rest of their time in silence with the sound of oil on a grill crackling in the background. Kiba lightened up a bit, as little as it was, and Iruka warmed at the thought that he could do something, _anything_ to raise his spirits even a notch higher.

But just as the warmth came, a tendril of ice snaked its way in and crushed it.

There was nothing wrong now. Kiba was fighting with Sakura, but friends could get into fights on occasion. If they ended up solving their problems through healthy means, then it was a learning experience they could eventually move on from. Collaboration, not compromise, he always told his students.

Yet there was something squirming at the back of Iruka's mind, and it bothered him because Academy Kiba hadn't looked close to the way he was now—exhausted, defeated, so starkly _unlike_ himself that a red flag was practically waving itself in front of his eyes.

Still, it was no problem now.

 _But would it be later?_

::

Two days later was when it all started.

Eighty-one genin were scattered around their assigned entry gates for Training Ground 44, and as was becoming a pattern, it was only after Naruto had made the loudest, eye-catching scene of everyone there.

Team Eight, silent and together for the first time since the end of the written exam (despite Kurenai's try at wrangling them all in one place), stood poised in front of Gate Sixteen while the others still milled about. Sakura surveyed the left, Kiba took the right, Shino to the front, Akamaru to the back. Not a single world had slipped through them since that confrontation, but they had an understanding.

They didn't have to get along to get things right. Emotions were not an excuse for inefficiency, and as long as they got to the end of the exam united and in one piece, they could figure out their issues at another time.

Besides, one of them had their Heaven Scroll hidden on their person. They couldn't afford to fuck up before the second test even started.

"This'll be fun," Anko laughed from her perch atop the makeshift assignment tent behind the gates. "Remember, you've all already turned in your consent forms before receiving your scrolls. If you die in there, it's not mine or Konoha's problem, so if you're gonna make fools of yourselves and get yourselves killed, make it as clean as possible. I don't want to go in there and spend six hours picking up body parts!"

Kiba caught a glimpse of the team assigned to the gate beside theirs, number Fifteen. The middle-most one turned her head, and he was met with a gaze of toxic yellow.

She smiled.

He tore his eyes away as a tremor wracked through his entire body.

"Five days is all you got here," Anko reminded, a sinister grin on her lips. "Make the most of it. Or don't. My job is to cut down at least ninety percent of ya', and I'll be damned if I'm not going for ninety-five."

::

Half a kilometer south of the the Forest of Death, Hoshigaki Kisame dropped his henge, hid in the shadows of Konoha's grand trees, and waited.

::

Uniformed proctors appeared before each gate and removed the locks. Kotetsu, designated to unlock Gate Sixteen, let the chain fall to his feet before he turned around and observed Unlucky Eight.

All three of their faces were identical in their intense vacancy and it unnerved him.

When the time struck exactly 2:30 pm, the gates crashed open and the uniformed proctors disappeared. Anko's booming voice filled the air.

"The second part of the exams starts _NOW_!"

::

The porcelain of a Lion mask glinted under harsh fluorescent lights as its wearer knelt before they man they'd sworn their life to. "The second part of the Chuunin Exams is underway. Start time: 14:30. End time: Wednesday, 14:30. Estimated time allotment for your desired mission: 119 hours and 58 minutes."

Danzo barely moved as his eyes lit with cruel excitement.

"Send them in."

::

 **A/N: Hey Everyone!**

I created a Ko-fi account and the link should be in the header of my tumblr page (under the same name as this), and I know I haven't been the best in updating lately, but if you'd like to support me by buying an coffee that would be awesome!

But don't feel obligated to do it, it won't speed up my updating process or anything like that, so if you choose to do so, do it on your own volition.

If you do decide to, each ko-fi will get split equally between me and my two beta readers ( OfCloves on Wattpad and rrage on ). I wouldn't be proud to put out my chapters without them!

Either way, thank you all for your support and thank you all for sticking with me this far! 3


	28. The Deliberate Infection

Kurenai stood on a far walkway that overlooked the tops of the trees of the Forest of Death. Her team never had an internal dispute before, and though she knew it was normal in genin teams, it was nothing like she expected.

They were still kids who were learning about the world and who they were, and there was nothing wrong with a couple spats every now and again. But these kids united in a fight against injustice and everything the Will of Fire wasn't; scorned for the truth and fighting an uphill battle with all the odds against them. She'd never seen anyone grow as close as them in such a short time, and she'd certainly never thought she'd meet shinobi that took only a few months to learn they'd either die as one or not at all.

Both concepts were equally as troubling.

"Oh, Yuuhi-senpai! Did you see off your team for the exams?"

Her team's old school teacher (Umino Iruka, she quickly supplied) approached her with a few files tucked under his arm. He was probably on an errand of some sort, though it was a ways away from the Academy.

"Umino-san," she greeted politely. She turned back to gaze at the forest. "That was my plan, but my team did an excellent job of avoiding me. Could I have taught them too well?"

He chuckled nervously. "Er, I came across Inuzuka-san a few days ago. He seemed rather upset... He didn't even realize Akamaru wasn't with him when I found him lounging around in his old classroom."

"No?" Kurenai frowned. So maybe their fight was worse than she originally calculated. Iruka saw the look on her face and waved his hands in front of him.

"I-I'm sure they'll be fine! Do they normally get along well?"

"Well enough," she answered vaguely. Shaking her head, she diverted the conversation back to the exams. "I tried getting closer to the testing location to see if they were acting more standoffish than usual, but the seals put up were quite impressive. I didn't think the Intelligence Division specialized in such work."

Iruka rubbed the back of his head with a bashful smile. "It, uh, wasn't the intelligence division! Some of the guard platoons and I were requested to set up the seals for the perimeter," he admitted. Kurenai, pleasantly surprised, faced him fully. "It's no-nothing great! I've always had a knack for fuuinjutsu, I just don't employ it as much since it's not standard curriculum at the Academy. I do get requests from Hokage-sama sometimes, but not too often."

"Don't slight your abilities. Fuuinjutsu is an intense study, and anyone who can pick it up should be proud," she said. She noted to bring it up to Kiba after the second exam; it wouldn't be bad if he had an actual teacher and she wasn't much help in that field. She would have never guessed Umino Iruka would be at all proficient in the sealing arts, but it seemed she wasn't the only one who overlooked the career chuunin. But she quickly chided herself—as much as she disliked the Hokage, she couldn't deny his eye for talent. Being in charge of perimeter security was no small task. She'd be a fool not to jump on an opportunity that could benefit at least one of her students—after all, they were the ones who taught her not to act so much on her preconceptions.

"Yuuhi-senpai?"

She lent an ear back to Iruka.

"It's probably not my place to say, but I think your team will make it out just fine," he stated firmly. "Inuzuka-san and Sakura-san have been undeterred by anything for a long time and Aburame-san is resilient in his own right. The sun might as well rise in the west before they're beat down by anything."

Kurenai returned his sentiment with a smile, the thought of her team warming her heart. "That's true, I suppose." She glanced over the green trees. "I just hope I'm not worrying too much."

::

They did not make five minutes into the exam without incident. So focused on creating a wide berth between themselves and the fence that surrounded the forest, they had not anticipated any early, brutal attack so soon.

And in particular, they didn't expect an attack by those who weren't even participants in the exams.

 _They_ came out of the shadows and melted into existence like wraiths. Unseen and unheard, they nearly succeeded in their first attempt at drawing blood if the taut paranoia in their targets hadn't been on the verge of snapping.

Sakura grabbed both Shino's and Kiba's sleeves mid-leap between branches and took them towards the ground. They all swan-dived into a crashing heap of grass, limbs, and panicked confusion.

"What the _fuck_ —" Kiba snarled angrily, but abruptly cut himself off when he rolled over and heard the thunk of kunai in the trees they were by mere seconds ago. He didn't have time to voice his shock when another barrage was fired their way.

He and Akamaru flipped out to the right—a quick glance in Sakura and Shino's direction assured him they were both unharmed—before taking the cover at the lowest hidden point they could find.

Shino's insects had already been dispersed the moment the exams started, spanning across a constant ten meter radius and saturating the air with a faint buzz as he tried to pick out their assailants. If their enemy was able to avoid him, they were far more skilled than they should be. A cluster of black bugs situated themselves on one side of his face as they pulsed chakra from him to the swarm and from the swarm to him.

"LEFT!" he shouted down where Sakura stood with a kunai in her hand. She swiftly re-positioned her stance and raised her forearms in time to block the foot that swung towards her head. She latched onto the shin of her opponent and used it as a pivot to careen her lower body into whoever's chest it might be.

Her ankle was caught and she was slammed into the ground.

Another body plunged into the scene, as cloaked and shadowed as the first, and drove a heel down to where Kiba's head would've been if he hadn't flung himself to the side. Nails elongated and fangs sharp, he aimed straight for the throat.

 _'Get the carotid arteries, cut the both of them, stop the blood flow to the brain—'_

In that moment he'd never been so thankful that Shino recited his anatomy texts out loud.

The stranger tried to pull a tanto from the sheath on their back, but stumbled when the dog ( _they'd forgotten about the mutt_ ) sunk its teeth into one of their Achilles tendons. Kiba lunged but still wasn't fast enough and only managed to catch their hood and tear it from their person.

A porcelain mask fashioned into the likeness of a panther stared back at him.

Kiba, with all the rage he'd bottled up, _howled_.

Shino finally organized his insects to act as his eyes and ears and settled them on each of his teammates to act as system analysts, then wrought to formulate a plan with what little he had to work with. Kiba and Akamaru were all over the place trying deal with one—Panther—and Sakura was struggling to hold her own. They both were.

Shino didn't have much time.

Sakura sustained minimal injury with what looked like a fractured ankle and a few cuts. She was quick on her feet despite the circumstance, dodging and blocking more so than attacking.

Smart, considering that their enemies had to be ROOT operatives.

 _Danzo's work._

The angry curl of his lips crept up automatically as he blinked away the red edging in on his vision.

 _Focus_.

She had five, maybe seven minutes at best until she was overpowered completely. Kiba, on the other hand, would reach exhaustion quicker now once the anger-fueled adrenaline wore out. Three minutes at most. Shino needed to get to him first even if there would always be a leverage of three shinobi against two.

One of the four rules that governed medic-nin stood out on the forefront of his mind.

 _Second Clause: No medic-nin shall ever stand on the front lines._

Shino pulled out kunai anyway and rushed Kiba's attacker from behind.

Sakura growled when one of her attacker's weapons made a clean slice across her cheek. Their hood had been blown back, a buffalo mask greeting her in silence and blood, and it took every fiber of her being not to absolutely lose it.

She ducked and blocked a whirlwind of punches before she vaulted over Buffalo's head. Of course it was Danzo and, by extension, the _thoughtful_ Hiruzen. They were already none too pleased at Eight's entrance in the exams, and if Orochimaru could saunter around to his heart's content, why couldn't they?

She grasped the back of Buffalo's neck only for smoke to filter through her fingers. There was nothing, then there was a hand that latched around her throat and hurled her into a tree. For a split second she saw stars and her head throbbed—

—and suddenly she was submerged, that hand held just out of touching range from the water prison she'd been encased in.

She was good at holding her breath. It wasn't just a trait of her father but of Ame-nin in general, so she shouldn't have to worry.

But she did, because if they weren't here to kill her and her team then they wouldn't be here at all.

Panther punched Kiba in the stomach, uncaring of the blood hacked onto their arms guards and smashed a knee into the chest of a downed Shino. Opponents temporarily neutralized, they took the time to run through a string of hand seals and aimed towards the water prison.

"Raiton," they intoned dully. Shino gasped for air and Kiba wiped the red that dribbled down his chin. " _Jibashi_."

A wave of lightning consumed the prison and Sakura screamed, water relentlessly flooding her mouth.

It was silent for a heartbeat.

Then two things happened at once:

First, fueled by adrenaline and rage, Kiba drew on the last of his energy—him and Akamaru both—and charged Buffalo. Forget the arguments between them, forget the fear, forget his doubt. She was part of his _pack_ , and he'd be damned if he let anyone hurt pack. "GATSUUGA!"

Second, Shino forced his hands to come together, formed the ram sign, and let his body phase through the ground. He wasted no time in resurfacing and drove a kunai into Panther's calf as he sent insects to invade the new wound.

Sakura collapsed ungracefully onto the ground as the earth cracked beside her and Buffalo jumped out the way to avoid a devastating blow. She was twitching— _she couldn't stop twitching_ —and the electricity still stabbed her skin, her muscles, her bones, everything was ringing, everything was too bright, too dark, too blurry, too clear—

Something bent over her, but she couldn't muster the strength to roll over or raise her head. A hand came down to hold the side of her face and, she thought blearily, it was nothing like Orochimaru's. Nothing about it made her want to scrub away at her skin until it was raw and instead, the hand was calloused and shaking as it moved the soaked hair out of her view.

She saw Kiba and his red-rimmed eyes.

"I'm so-sorry!" he sputtered. "I didn't mean—I—I was scared an' shouldn't've said those things—"

"Ki... be... hi-hi..."

"—but I _did_ and I know it's not your fault and you shouldn't've had ta'—"

He was yanked back and into Buffalo's arms. Akamaru cried from his spot beside Sakura, weakly clawing at the ground towards his partner, as one of the ROOT operative's hands covered Kiba's mouth and the other meticulously shattered his left arm in three different places.

Shino was stuck on the other side of the clearing with stinging hands as he held the blade of a flat-tipped kunai from impaling him in the chest. Blood ran onto his shirt and he _tried_ to scrape the last of his chakra and _tried_ to send his insects to his team's aid. He _tried_ and _tried_ and the tanto was only getting closer; his hands were getting cut deeper and the blood was making it too slippery—

 _He was trying so hard, why was nothing working?!_

A sickening, wet eruption echoed in the clearing.

Both Shino and Panther looked towards the sound and found Buffalo's neck in the middle of bursting. Red and flesh rained over Kiba as the body toppled forward and trapped him under the gore.

Shino snapped back to his assailant and caught sight of a different blade that rammed through the middle of Panther's forehead, stopping millimeters from the space between his eyes. A drop of blood fell onto his nose before the corpse slumped into his lap.

He was frozen.

"What's all _this_ now, hm?"

::

Shino, currently the most able-bodied of Team Eight, could no longer feel the sting in his hands as suffused in fear and apprehension.

Orochimaru had just saved them. Orochimaru. Now he stood not two meters away, sword still in the middle of Panther's skull, with a mocking grin that promised nothing good.

He wouldn't have helped them on a whim and didn't do things without preamble, if he remembered Sakura's implications correctly. Everything came at a cost, he knew, but the sick feeling that settled in his aching bones made him guess that until now he hadn't known what cost could _really_ mean.

He pried his gaze away from Orochimaru's disguise and could only watch his team from afar. Sakura spasmed with aftershocks from the electricity and tried to maneuver into any other position but face down. Kiba feebly pushed at the dead body that lay atop him while he cradled his arm.

"Sakura-chan, are messes like this a habit of yours?" Orochimaru tutted in a voice that wasn't his, gliding over to stare down at the girl's prone form. She shook again, and he laughed. "Imagine that—you really would've been dead if dear old Orochimaru-san didn't come to your rescue." He cast Kiba a brief glance. "So children, what do we say after people do nice things for us?"

Shino was silent. _'What is he doing?'_ Sakura's hands clenched, but she said nothing. A show of defiance. _'What is_ she _doing?!'_

Orochimaru took Kiba by the back of his collar and dragged him over with the unnatural smile that never left his face, and he repeated himself. "What do we say?"

Again, nothing. So he twisted the boy's broken arm until his face wrenched and tears started to trickle down his face. Sakura shook with exertion as she finally brought up her head.

"St-Stop," she choked. His grin widened.

"Not the right words, but I think you'll get there."

This time he doesn't stop twisting until Kiba shouted for him to stop, to let go, _it hurts, it was too much, please, please, PLEASE—_

Shino had never felt his insides writhe so painfully at a sight he was powerless to stop.

" _Thank you_!" Sakura exploded. Another shock fumbled her grip and her head hit the ground. "Th-Thank... you..."

Orochimaru tilted his head. "Thank you... who?"

"Thank you, Oro-Orochimaru-san," she bit out. The sannin released the arm and let Kiba drop. Sakura, sluggish in her haze, dragged him under the cover of her body so she could shield him from whatever else would come. Orochimaru read her actions and scoffed; how such an ineffective attempt at protection could possibly be interpreted as sweet in anyone else's eyes was beyond him. But his smile soon returned full force when he stared at the two broken bodies at his feet.

There was nothing more comfortable than juggling lives in his hands.

He crouched and picked up Sakura's chin, forcing her to look at him directly. Her face was exhausted and her gaze was half-lidded—she looked nothing like her father but he could see a spark of him in her eyes, all rage and bloodlust and missed opportunity.

Shino's fingers dug into the upturned dirt beneath him.

"You're very welcome, Sakura-chan," he hummed. "But you should know I never do things for free." He was taunting her and she didn't want to fall for it, but there was too much at stake. Too many important people at risk. "What are you willing to offer as payment?"

She subconsciously drew the Inuzuka and the dog closer, and he could've laughed. Poor little Hoshigaki Sakura-chan tempting fate as she was. Not many had the chance to die twice, and one would think she would be a bit more enthusiastic.

The dead should stay dead, but who was he to complain about ninja wrenching apart the natural order of things.

He hummed with excitement, eagerly awaiting her answer as she opened her mouth to _say_ —

 _Third Clause: No medic-nin shall ever die until they are the last of their platoon._

"I'll do it! I'll offer whatever you want!" Across the clearing, Shino threw himself up to his feet. He swayed as Panther's body slipped off in a sticky trail of blood. "I'll offer anything. Just... Just leave Kiba and Sakura and Akamaru alone."

Sakura's subdued expression morphed into one of dread. "Or-Oroch... no, lea-leave hi..."

Intrigued, Orochimaru let her chin fall and practically slithered over to the final member of the team. An Aburame, he recognized, as he observed the genin trying to keep himself upright. Sakura-chan certainly knew how to pick her circle. "Anything, boy?"

Shino grit his teeth. "Anything. Anything for them."

Tears continued to leak down Kiba's face.

Shino's eyes were forced to adjust to the light when his cracked glasses were swiped of his face and discarded in the dirt. He squinted at the blurred image of a madman's long tongue flickering out against glossed lips.

"Eyes are the window to soul, you must have heard before. It's amazing that you're so willing to risk everything, especially in the face of a man like me—you're quite lucky that I'm in a _giving_ mood." Shino barely registered the fingers hovering over his face. "Excuse me," Orochimaru bid politely, lightly, velvety. "This is your price for your misaligned bravery."

Then all Shino knew was white hot pain when those fingers dug into his right eye socket.

The sannin had an eye in his hand when he turned to appraise the others' reactions, pleased to find Kiba's shocked horror and Sakura's silent fury as she twitched with remnant lightning. He pulled out a vial of preserving fluid, something he'd planned to save for a whole different set of eyes (but plans were always changing, weren't they?) and sealed the organ inside. He'd find a use for it somewhere in his experiments—perhaps he'd save it for something good to honor the boy's spectacular ocular nerve.

Shino fell onto knees as he raised a shaking hand to his face. When he pulled back, a red puddle overflowed from his palm and his vision could not. Keep. _Still_.

Orochimaru chuckled. Really, Konoha needed to stop raising their children so soft.

He prepared to take his leave, misery and suffering bubbling in his wake, when another thought breezed through his mind. "You three can barely protect yourselves," he crooned. "How do you expect to protect those you care for? If you're the type of shinobi this village breeds, it seems my killing of the Sandaime will be easier than I thought. "

Peering back he expected fear or desperation, but every glare he met was nothing but an encompassed loathing. Bitterness. Revulsion.

Sakura was in the midst of pushing herself onto her elbows, hair unkempt and wild and not quite hiding the chilling green of her eyes. "Kill the... the Hokage?" she repeated. Her lips curved up into a smirk that was more of a grimace as she endured another jolt. "I hate everything you... stand for. I ha-hate everything you... did... I'll hate every... everything you decide to d-do." She inhaled as another wave of dizziness caught up to her. "But if you eve-ever had a con... conscience—" Orochimaru's breath left him in a moment, a rush of unexpected elation taking him from how much hate one small body could hold, monstrous and shrouded in mist— "then you be... better make sure the bastard _bleeds_."

::

Kurenai stared down at her dango and iced tea with a troubled wrinkle in her brow. She had a feeling that kept flipping in her stomach since the start of the exams, and while it had only been thirty or so minutes since then, she had decided to get a snack to try and calm down.

But it didn't help much. It didn't help at all. She was still so worried and Iruka's kind words had only managed to placate her for a few seconds before her mind sunk back into that familiar dark pit. No matter what happened, this wasn't an ordinary timeline of events. Genin shouldn't get punished for noble action, children shouldn't fear their Kage when everyone else revered him, a team shouldn't suffer the burden of a constant threat from someone who should be worthy of their loyalty.

Her grip tightened around her cup.

And she shouldn't be the only one willing to protect them.

She blinked when a hand appeared and stole one of her dango sticks while a body slid into the unoccupied seat in front of her.

"Most genin sensei are happy to have their team compete in the second part of the exams. You don't seem too thrilled—is something wrong?"

Kurenai smiled and shook her head. "Just the usual sort of stress. I have no doubt they'll pass, but..."

Tenzo nodded around his bite of dango. "I don't blame you. There are teams who don't make it out of the applied portion, and there's a reason why it's required for participants to fill out consent forms. But that doesn't seem like the reason why you're worried. You already knew that." He waved down a waiter and ordered a drink for himself as well as another plate of dango. "Forgive me if I'm prying."

"You're alright," Kurenai sighed. "My team is just... in a rough place. Have been for a while now." She didn't notice his eyes glimmer in understanding. "These chuunin exams are one of the first steps to them getting through it, but I have this feeling..." She shook her head and sighed again. "I just need a distraction. At least until I know they made it to the next section."

Tenzo took another stick, mulling her words over. "Okay." He turned toward another passing waitress. "Excuse me, I ordered dango a minute or two ago. Could I please have those to go?"

"No problem, sir."

He met Kurenai's raised brow with a smile. "Let's go training. Winner gets the rest of the dango?"

She chuckled and grinned, bright with competition. "You're on."

::

Team Eight was, for lack of a better word, _drained_.

They took refuge at the nearest clearing and had been sitting in silence for a solid twenty minutes. Their hands and feet were coarse with the ashes of the bodies they'd burned and Kiba's storage scrolls were full of weapons and masks pilfered from the dead—something that left a bad taste on their tongues, but was something necessary nonetheless. At least at the moment.

Shino spent their break time adjusting his vision. His glasses were cracked on the lens that sat over his _only_ eye, and his sudden lack of depth perception only added to his rising ire. Kiba had gingerly pulled his broken arm from his sleeve and fashioned a makeshift sling out of gauze and refused Shino's attempts at healing, saying he'd get it fixed when he knew for sure they were safe.

The first clause of the four rules of medic-nin trampled through Shino's head.

 _First Clause: No medic-nin shall ever stop medical treatment until the lives of their party members have come to an end._

Then he relented with an understanding nod, letting the green glow of his hands flicker out.

Through their interaction Sakura sat with her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. An occasional jolt shot through her and rattled her bearings, but she acclimated to the pain as she gauged an estimate of when the aftershocks hit so she could brace herself.

Everyone was miserable and they would all end up scarred. And it hasn't even been an hour since the exams started.

Then Akamaru—tuckered out and suffering a handful of broken ribs—growled. Kiba sniffed the air and pinched his temple.

"Guys," he mumbled.

"Irritating," Shino sighed. Sakura said nothing, her back to the genin team that tried to sneak up on them from behind and was failing miserably. She didn't turn when they suddenly screamed, didn't turn as the sound of bodies falling from the trees, didn't turn as the scent of blood got just a little bit tangier.

"Konoha's Flying Leeches can sense body temperature and sweat," Kiba informed the Ame team that had the misfortune of crossing their way. "They swoop down on prey in hordes and in five minutes, you'll be dead." He blinked at them. "But we're tired. And not huge assholes."

Sakura raised her hand to show a few wires wrapped around her hand and yanked. Another chorus of shouts erupted as a thick net hoisted the team up and into the treeline. "I'll get the scroll," she said. She brought herself up onto her good foot with a heavy sigh and spun around.

Shino straightened. "You shouldn't put any weight on your right side. Why? It will worsen your fracture."

"Alright."

"Um, I can get it for you. Since you're not supposed to walk more than you need to," Kiba offered, almost nervous. Sakura stared blankly at him for a few beats before she reached over to flick his nose.

"Rest," she replied simply, then leapt up to the high branches.

Shino knew he'd forever have the sight of half darkness—and it would take a while to adjust when his world is already blurred at the edges, but he couldn't help the small smile at Kiba's relieved slump and the return of Sakura's tentative warmth.

 _'Anything.'_

Orochimaru loomed over him for a moment, but he blinked, and the apparition disappeared.

 _'Anything for them.'_

::

 _Your younger brother resides in Konoha._

Kisame knew the Forest of Death would be a labyrinth of sorts—it was a circle that was twenty kilometers from end to end with a tower in the center as the only landmark.

He didn't know which gate his pup had started at and he resigned himself to scouring the dense foliage while avoiding the other genin teams. It was a piece of cake; he was an S-class criminal and the only thing he needed to overcome was his shitty sense of direction.

But he came here for Sakura and he'd destroy any obstacle to get to her.

Kisame ignored the pain in his collarbone and stared down the sannin that stood across from him.

He had come here for Sakura, but he got caught up in a promise he made to Itachi.

Orochimaru had the smell of burnt flesh about him now that he was no longer wearing a stranger's skin. He was more pissed and rightfully so after everything that went wrong, but he was smiling. Grinning. Showing all his teeth in such a grisly way that churned Kisame's stomach.

"You got in my way," Orochimaru said. Amusement hiccuped in his chest. "You got in my way to save a boy you don't even know an—" He interrupted himself with a grating laugh. "Well, I suppose it's only fair. My luck has run dry, but yours must be in a drought if fate has you saving _my_ objective when _yours_ pulled the short end of the stick."

Kisame went cold as he shoved aside all that transpired. "What the fuck does that mean?" he said quietly. His killing intent leaked out and he let it run freely. They were far enough away from the Kyuubi boy, the Hyuuga girl, Itachi's—

Orochimaru held his hands up in a placating manner, though all he did only ever seemed to be a byproduct of mockery. "Now, now, I've done nothing to precious little Sakura-chan," he started. His smile went a touch darker. "But that's only because someone did the honors for me."

" _You_ —"

"I was even at the gate beside her team at the beginning and still, I was late," he continued. He scrunched his brow in feigned puzzlement, ticking Kisame off even further. "It's a shame she'll live after the _shock_ she received. That team's a bit roughed up, but they'll heal." He heaved a deep, dramatic sigh. "I don't know how much they will, though. They seemed rather _shattered_ even before I made my grand entrance."

Kisame truly hated this kind of person. It was always a riddle or a game with him, and he'd known to throw away all pretense of getting a straightforward answer when first meeting the snake years ago. Still, it pissed him off. "Get to the fucking point."

"There will be preliminaries with the number of participants that will no doubt pass this part of the exams," Orochimaru said. "I'll be there under the guise of an Oto representative and you will attend alongside me. Second in command? Trainee? I'll smooth along the bumps later down the line." He took a step forward. "It's better to show than tell. After all, won't you want to see what your action—or inaction—has wrought?"

Kisame sneered. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

The sannin's eyes flashed dangerously. "Indulge me. You owe me this much."

"I don't owe you shit."

"After what you've _done_ and what it _cost_?"

 _He's twelve years old, more talented than he ever thought he was, and remains the sole survivor of the massacre._

Orochimaru reached over and grabbed the collar of Kisame's shirt, pulling it to the side. He was met with tense muscles, a steely eyed glare, and sharp teeth that'd rip out his throat if he wasn't careful.

"You missed helping your little girl in exchange for helping a brat that has nothing to do with you," he hissed. His eyes roved hungrily over the black ink that blotched blue skin. "You picked to throw yourself in front of my Cursed Seal of Heaven and _lived_ while you almost let your daughter die," he spat. "That's years of work taken, Kisame-kun, all because you let that Uchiha _slip_ from my grasp!"

 _His name is Sasuke._

Orochimaru opened his hand and took a graceful step backwards. "I'll see you at the Forest of death's Tower. Wednesday, 13:30, top floor." That pale smiled resurfaced. "Try not to get caught. For Sakura-chan's sake, right?"

And once more he was gone in a wisp of nothing.

 _I'll look out for him, Itachi-san._

Kisame rubbed the seal when it started to itch, his heart falling farther and farther as that asshole's words really began sinking in. Had he come all this way— _all this way_ just to fail her again? And right when he was there, right when he could finally do something about it, he chose to save Itachi's baby brother.

His pup was what mattered most to him. His top priority. His blood, his life, who he lived for.

And she'd almost... _died_?

The back of his eyes burned at that one thought and the seal itched all the fiercer, but he pushed it down.

It could be a lie. He didn't have to believe a word that came out of that bastard's mouth.

Kisame slung Samehada across his back and took off to try and comb the forest one more time to see if he could catch his pup and her team. Whenever he thought about the possibility of a small body so still, bright green eyes turned dull, pink hair stained red, his muscles trembled with anxiety and his heart would elevate to a thousand beats per minute.

He didn't want to accept that he could've been too late to save her.

But Orochimaru had always been known to taunt with the truth.

 _All you had to do was ask._

::

Kiba stopped when he sniffed out someone close. Two groups were in the distance ahead of them—one that smelled of dried grain and sawdust and the other like damp soil and welded metal. He informed the rest of his team as such, and Sakura confirmed it as probably teams form Suna and Ame, respectively.

"You've got no hard feelings for your old village, right?" he asked. She shook her head and twitched once.

"I only knew three Ame citizens in my time there," she said. "God, his Angel, and the widow that ran the flower shop."

" _God_?" Shino repeated skeptically.

"He has a bit of a... complex. The village leader, I mean," she clarified. "He used to watch me when Dad was out and no one else could take care of me." At her friends' twin looks of surprise, she waved it off. "I can tell you more about it later, if you want. You guys deserve to know more about me."

Kiba bit his lip and sniffed the air again instead of replying. "Uh, you guys wanna check it out? It's fine if you don't wanna 'cause we just got, y'know, pretty fucked up back there. But if you guys wanna pass the time since we don't wanna be the first to finish...?"

Shino turned towards the supposed direction of the foreign teams. His eye socket throbbed—not quite healed but cauterized to stop the bleeding—and everything stayed angled slightly to the left.

But in a manner that screamed 'Unlucky Eight', he shrugged. "What more do we have to lose?"

When they arrived just a few minutes to the northwest, Akamaru immediately whined and crawled up Kiba's jacket to hide. With an ability to sense chakra levels to determine strength, his was the team's very own radar, but the way he cowered and tried to bury himself in his partner's chest instantly raised alarm.

Shino summoned some of his scarce chakra to press a few green fingers atop the ninken's head. Healing chakra weaved in to calm his nerves, and once he stopped shaking and his whines turned to silent whimpers, they settled on a well-hidden branch and scrutinized the scene that unraveled before them.

::

Shigure, the leader of his team, wasn't about to tremble at the feet of the bunch of children that so forthrightly challenged them. He might be a genin just like the rest of the godforsaken people in this forest, but he was an Amegakure shinobi born and raised. The Angel didn't waste her energy protecting those who didn't deserve it, and God would have cut him down long ago if he would've brought shame to the village.

He wasn't bitter. He wasn't arrogant. In the face of three Suna brats with the shortest, scrawniest one at the forefront, what else was he supposed to think?

He wasn't naive or presumptuous.

He was _practical_.

"You should've learned to pick your opponents with better sense," he sneered. "And now you're going to die because of your misjudgment."

"Enough," the red-haired one said emotionlessly. The one dressed head to toe in black crossed his arms.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to hunt them down to gather intel instead of attacking them immediately?" Shigure couldn't fault his reasoning—in fact, why did he have to explain such a simple concept to that smaller kid? Those were just signs of an incompetent shinobi. "If they have the same scroll then we don't have to fight. Unnecessary battles only—"

"They were pretentious when they looked me in the eye. I'll kill them all," the short boy interrupted softly, and the other backed off with a peeved scowl.

Shigure ripped out five of his bamboo umbrellas out the sheaths on his back and sends them high in the air. A simple one-handed sign had them flung open and spinning at sonic speeds, and a flick of his wrist activated the seals to release an unending blizzard of senbon in every single fathomable direction.

He'd teach these punks a lesson or two about conduct.

But his smug grin fell and he faltered when the red-haired kid stood in the same position as he did previously, gaze unwavering and a crackling dome of sand surrounding his body.

His teammates were left to fend for themselves and the blonde one opened some sort of fan to block her and the black-clad one.

"A senbon rainstorm," the boy observed dully. "If you wanted a rainstorm, then I'll make it rain blood."

That was the last straw in Shigure's book. Amegakure shinobi were notoriously short-tempered and as much as he'd like to say he didn't fit the stereotype, he did, and he wasn't going to take this flak from a little _shithead_ that was trying too hard to be intimidating.

He was ticked off and he rushed him, but before he could even make it halfway there, the brat brought his hands together and muttered two words. "Sand Coffin."

And suddenly Shigure was trapped in an unbreachable block of sand as his umbrellas fell back down, piercing Earth. He couldn't feel his legs, his arms, _anything_ —and only his face is left to meet air. The kid plucked one of the umbrellas, opened it, and set it on his shoulder.

"I could cover your loud mouth and kill you. It would grace us all with a quiet death." A pause. "But that would be too pathetic." His hand extended, then made a fist. "Sand Burial."

Shigure wasn't scared. He never is.

But he was aware of the sun on his face, the breath in his lungs, the way he was so wholly alive in an exam that was his to win.

Then there was nothing.

::

Team Eight didn't have the energy to be shocked anymore; Kiba covered the bottom half of his face and grimaced, Shino squinted while moving his head side to side to keep everything in his field of vision, and Sakura watched it all blankly—calculatingly, if anything.

Her father, she recalled, was at the top of her list for the most intense bloodlust she'd ever felt. The way Gaara so effortless killed that shinobi made any of her father's actions seem like child's play, and only because she knew he was at least capable of empathy.

Gaara she wasn't too sure about. Especially now that he was using his jinchuuriki abilities to slaughter without thought.

Beside her, Kiba furiously rubbed at his nose.

That sand smelled _awful_.

"There was no pain. I crushed him harder than necessary." Gaara quietly relished in the pungent fear that seeped from both his opponents and his team. "His blood mixes with the sand and mingles in the chaos within me, making me stronger."

Sakura cocked a brow. He was a jinchuuriki out of control of his beast.

One of the remaining Ame-nin whipped out their scroll and held it out shakily. "H-Here—take it just ple-please—don't kill us!"

Gaara was silent. He cast aside the sullied umbrella and wound his sand around the other two and quickly killed them in the same manner: no fluff, no bluffs, no mercy.

Kankuro sighed and went to pick up the discarded scroll. His face wrinkled at the stained paper and the way it made his hands damp.

" _I haven't killed enough._ "

Annoyed, Kankuro spun around to glare at his younger brother, but Gaara was too preoccupied in staring down one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. He moved the same way to try and pick out which poor bastards were next on the chopping block, already resigning himself to sitting through another series of these cruel murders.

But then he saw a flash of pink amongst the dark leaves.

And even when the exams are far from over and he's back in the place where the sun bears no reluctance and the sandstorms never end, he'll still wonder for months why that's the sight that spurred him into action.

"Quit it," Kankuro snarled. Gaara's gaze sharpened as his head snapped over to coolly regard his brother. "We have the scroll we need and doing anything else is only gonna waste our time."

"Are you scared, coward?"

The eldest of the two blistered. "It might not be a problem for the 'indestructible Gaara'," he spat, "but it is for _us_. One set of scrolls is what we need to pass. _We don't need more_."

Gaara's expression didn't change. It never changed. "I don't take direction from the likes of you."

Kankuro grabbed the body strap that held up his gourd and pulled him up. "I said cut it out, dammit! Why don't you fucking listen to what your big brother has to say for once in your damn life?!"

"I've never considered you my siblings, so do not act so familiar." He looked at Temari who had been silent throughout the confrontation, then stared straight ahead into his brother's angry eyes as he pushed the hand away. "Stay out of my way or I'll kill you too."

"Th-There's no need to say something so cold," Temari tried. "Please, as a favor to your sister? Can we finish the exam?"

Gaara abruptly made a fist and analyzed the way his sister flinched and how his brother grit his teeth, but only the cork of his gourd sat between his curled fingers. "Fine."

He walked away.

Kankuro and Temari breathed out relieved sighs and reluctantly followed after, the latter subtly glancing back to catch even a glimpse of that team.

But all of them—Sakura the Tourist Guide included—were gone.

::

Kotetsu had been summoned to the Forest of Death.

It was unsurprising, he knew rapid-response was part of his duties as a proctor. And this was what he signed up for, so nothing should've caught him off guard.

But it was four hours into the first day and the record for finishing was broken for the second time. They weren't close to that insane Suna team that got through in a mind-boggling hour and thirty seven minutes, but it wasn't estimated that another team would show up in the same twelve hour period.

Once the summoning smoke cleared and he got a good luck at who made it, he stalled.

It was Unlucky Eight.

"Holy fuc—I mean," he cleared his throat and kept up a calm exterior. "Congratulations on passing the second section. You are the second team to meet its completion—" he checks the time— "and did so in four hours and nine minutes. Your team leader will be able to meet you twenty-four hours after this information is documented and filed. Do you require a medic?"

There was dried blood all across Kiba's shoulders and it covered all of what Kotetsu could see of his back. His clothes were torn and he was holding his arm to his body like a lifeline; taking it as the worst case scenario, it was probably more than broken. His ninken (Akamaru?) was limp and unmoving in the front of his partner's jacket, and if it wasn't for their lack of panic, he would've thought the dog was dead.

Sakura was bruised along her face and arms, and her apparel was slightly damp—from falling into the river? Or getting attacked by a water jutsu? A sudden, localized monsoon? He'd guess the first, but he was never too sure about them anymore. One thing he did see though was that she favored settling her weight on her left foot rather than her right.

And Shino... there was blood crusted all over his pants and it caked the right side of his face from the eye downward. His cracked glasses completely covered both eyes and there was no way for Kotetsu to determine if that blood was his or someone else's. Which one was the better choice, he didn't know.

"You know what? Don't answer that," he backtracked. "I'll send an available medic as soon as possible. Go out the doors behind me, take the right hall, and you'll see the infirmary sign above one of the doors. It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes until you can get treated."

Shino nodded and murmured a 'thank you' as he began walking towards the door. Kotetsu watched as Sakura limped by his side and gently guided him by the hand when he sometimes went a little too far to the left more than a handful of times. Kiba eventually took the Aburame's other side and placed his good hand on his shoulder to help maneuver him, whispering something too low to pick up and to be answered by the shake of Sakura's head.

Kotetsu's mouth opened without much foreword, and he asked the one burning question on his mind. "How did you guys make it out of there in one piece?"

Shino stopped and turned back around, the others slowing a bit ahead of him but no less attentive. He was meeting his eyes, Kotetsu knew, but there was always something unnerving about being stared at with eyes that couldn't be seen.

He then tipped his head with an air of genuine courtesy. "We got lucky."

::

It took four hours for Team Eight to make it to the Tower of the Forest of Death and suffice to say, he wasn't content at the bubble of pride that filled his chest because of it. He crept through to the Tower's infirmary and stuck to the shadows. There was barely anyone here and the only things he had to worry about were the cameras posted at the entrances and that Suna team, so he saw no harm in dropping by for a brief moment.

Because all Tenzo wanted to do was congratulate them—for the trials they'd overcome, for the plights they didn't deserve, for being able to succeed in the face of opposition.

Because they deserved at least that much.

But he couldn't have been prepared for the states they were in because he hadn't been expecting such a level of injury.

There were six separate beds in the infirmary and they were all crowded around the one farthest from the door and adjacent to the locked window. Shino was propped up against the pillows with a hand to his eyes, and Sakura sat at the end of his bed with her right leg propped up and a blanket draped across her shoulders. Kiba was in a chair pulled up to them, his arm in a sling and his face planted onto the mattress. All of them were covered in bandages, even Akamaru, and his temple furrowed under his mask as he drew nearer.

When Shino turned to reach the glass of water on the bedside table, he froze at the sight of bone-white armor and a cat mask.

What he didn't notice was that Tenzo froze too because Shino's glasses are off and while one was wide and expressive, the other was an empty socket with dried blood crusted around the edges and tens of tiny insects crawling inside.

Sakura and Kiba looked up almost simultaneously at their visitor and Akamaru practically buried himself in the covers, tired and thrumming with anxiety.

Tenzo held a single finger to his mask over the spot where his mouth would be and deftly drew the privacy curtains around them. Then he presented three immaculately wrapped boxes of brown paper and twine.

Sakura huffed. "So it really _was_ you."

Tenzou wasn't sure if he should be embarrassed for being so transparent, but when he watched them open their gifts and light up, he couldn't find himself to care. He'd gotten them a little more... functional things than what he decided on before, since the more time he's been spending with Kurenai resulted in learning a lot about her kids.

They'd given him so much without really knowing him in turn, so this had to be the very least he could do.

Kiba took out his present first, inspecting the two ornate red rectangles he found. They were iron-cast and when he flicked one open, he jumped when it opened into a weaponized fan. A tessen.

Sakura tossed hers from hand to hand before she tore off the packaging. It was a bit dense and clinked when she moved it, and after she opened the box and tipped it into an open hand, a black chain with weighted crescent-shaped grip at each end. She recognized it immediately as a kusari-fundo and understood its potential as a hand close-combat tool.

A long cut of fabric was unrolled in Shino's lap and small pockets were sewn in a line, each with a vial filled with something he hadn't had the chance to experiment with. There were fourteen in total, the first seven containing dried herbs he knew were rare, and the last seven held meticulously sealed poisons labeled by serial numbers and a rolled note with its recipe.

"Where did you get all this?" Kiba questioned. He inspected his gift in poorly concealed awe. "Why're you even—what are you gonna get out of this? We're just a buncha genin brats."

"Who did the right thing at the cost of themselves," he added quietly. Shino's grip tightened around his new poisons kit. "The kindness you've shown me can never be repaid."

"We didn't do this for payment," Sakura insisted. She thought of all too pleased Orochimaru who only saved them to ruin them himself, and she fumed. They would never do anything like that—they would never become like him. "You're going to get yourself in trouble if you keep this up. We're not worth that."

"Perhaps," Tenzo admitted. He observed their wary faces and their hunched shoulders as if they were preparing to attack. "But if I were to get caught, it would be my own choice to support those who didn't deserve what had been done to them."

Kiba gaped at him in near disbelief.

"So you trust us?" Shino asked.

"I have no reason to believe otherwise."

Team Eight exchanged looks with one another and came to a silent agreement. Sakura exhaled quietly and prepared herself to give another vague explanation. He was still not to be inherently trusted as one of the Hokage's most trusted operatives, but giving him the benefit of the doubt—

There was the sound of heels coming from down the hall. Tenzo drew back the curtain and disappeared and the team hid their gifts before a medic walked into the infirmary and smiled.

"I'll be doing one more healing session for today, and the next one we'll do tomorrow morning, alright?"

Tenzo took his leave from the room and out the Tower.

Whatever they had to say, he hoped they have the chance to tell him later.

::

At night Sakura excused herself and went to the roof for some fresh air. Her hair was out of its bun and the cool breeze was nice against her newly healed skin.

"You look like you got run over and if I'm speaking honestly, it's a good look."

She was gazing at the sky when Kankuro approached. While she was sat on the railing with her legs dangling over the edge, he leaned against the metal just out of arm's reach.

The corner of her lip quirked. "Thanks. The dirt really brings out my eyes."

"Right," he snorted. "I guess I'm not surprised your team made it even if it looks like ten of those giant centipedes tried to rinse your asses."

"I wouldn't say bugs were much of a problem. Just some rats and a snake."

He lifted a brow. "You saw a snake?"

"One," she said. She held Kankuro's gaze until he nervously looked away. "But it's over for now. There's still four and a half more days to this section; anything can happen."

They were silent for a while, the only interruptions being the occasional cries of fighting and the echoes of traps being tripped throughout the grounds.

Kankuro was in deep consideration the entire time, his eyes flickering back and forth until he spoke up. "Gaara could've killed you earlier."

"But he didn't."

"He was _ready_ to—"

"And you stopped him," she replied simply. She turned to regard him curiously. "Why?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, looking lost and guilty as he avoided her eyes. "I don't know."

She took his answer with a small nod. "Okay." Then a little quieter and more sincerely, she said, "Either way, thanks."

"... Yeah." He turned away and continued on more obnoxiously. "If the only tourist guide I knew died out there, who else is gonna show me around this shit hole? Everyone else is damn annoying."

"Sure," Sakura agreed. "What about a tour around the Forest of Death? I hear the greenery is illus- _tree_ -ous this time of year."

The look of visible pain on Kankuro's face is enough to send her into a fit of laughter, all her problems gone for a heartbeat as she allowed her exhaustion to sink in and herself to be lost in a small moment of peace.

::

There was an uproar in the Hokage's office, but all she could hear was her fear.

A team from Kusagakure was dead and Orochimaru was to blame.

The exams couldn't be cancelled because they were too far along, and they only thing they could do now was endure.

Everyone was arguing.

The Hokage was demanding order.

And the only thing Kurenai could think about is what Shino told her so few days ago.

 _"Sakura found a viper in the grass."_

Her hands curled into fists to keep her fingers from trembling.

 _Orochimaru entered the exams disguised as a Kusa-nin._


	29. Blind

He'd always been told to look at things from a different perspective.

 _To try and understand what you don't,_ said his father after he'd come to him with a question about being the head of a clan.

 _To make the best decision,_ chided his second year teacher after he'd gotten a hypothetical question wrong on one of his tests.

 _To know who's lying this time,_ growled Kiba as they trudged towards the destination of another one of the Third's senseless missions.

 _To make sure you survive,_ cautioned Sakura after she'd taken the executioner's blade.

All of it. It was all of those things. And yet what it took for him to finally get it was a couple fingers slick against his conjunctiva and half the world torn to red, then black.

The adrenaline and paranoia of the day before had abated in his sleep, Shino noticed as he propped himself up in the team's assigned room. They'd strung all three cots together in the corner and slept as they always did—too tired to remember their rifts and thrumming numb from mostly healed injuries.

He glanced to the left at the spot closest to the door. Sakura was gone. To the right. Akamaru nestled into a torn-up gray jacket while Kiba laid one arm on a pillow with his functioning arm thrown across his face.

It wasn't until dawn peaked over the horizon that the sheets shifted. Shino counted one thousand seven hundred twenty-two breaths since he'd woken for Kiba to groggily sit up with a stifled yawn. His fangs glinted in the dim morning light, and he was careful not to jostle his bandaged arm.

"Damn, still sore," he mumbled, swinging his head to the side. Shino was quiet and pale and his socket was unsettlingly gaping, and the last bed was empty. "Where'd she go?"

"The roof again, I imagine." Shino's voice scratched against his throat and he reached for one of the water bottles the medic left for them sometime in the night. His hand dove too far to the left and he hit the side of the bottle instead of grasping it. The hand clenched into a fist. "Why? There's little else to do but plan and wait, and the fact that she spent some hours there last night suggest that it might be a place she'll frequent until the next part of the exam begins."

"... Yeah, I guess."

Shino set his glasses on his face, the fuzziness melding together into a sharp picture. He'd gotten a stronger prescription not too long ago and the world was all that much clearer, but... now it was tilted. Half gone. It didn't matter how well he saw because it would never be _whole_ —

He drew in a deep breath as his heart beat slowly rose. "You two should speak."

Kiba blinked and rubbed some of the crust from his eyes. "Huh?"

"You and Sakura." He turned in time to see his friend's mouth flatten. "It's obvious that your animosity was short lived. Why? If yesterday's events were an indication of anything, then this is a discussion you need to have."

Shino received as much of an answer as he was going to get when Kiba quietly slipped out of bed with a grim look of acceptance. He tugged on a pair of pants and a fishnet shirt—his back to Shino, he didn't notice his fingers itching to claw at what was left of his eye—and ambled towards the door.

"I'll... I'll find her," sighed Kiba. "Roof, right?" Casting a look over his shoulder, his brows crinkled at the sight of Shino staring at the wall ahead of him, unmoving. "Hey, you good? The medic's only—"

"I'm fine. Go find Sakura."

Kiba opened his mouth as if to protest but thought against it, his teeth clacking together when he abruptly shut his mouth. "I'll be back soon," he promised firmly. "Seriously. And if you're still not feelin' great I'll get the medic too."

He shuffled out the room.

Shino took a few moments to stew in those warm words and how at ease it made him feel.

Then he doubled over and ripped the glasses from his face. Akamaru jerked awake with a startled bark as his hand raised to his eye— _his socket_ —and he held a finger to it, vainly hoping he was met with a wet, gel-like mold. But there was nothing. Just a hole in his face where Orochimaru had dug in and taken such a useless prize for what, to laugh?

It was a consequence of the shinobi life to come out in pieces or not at all, but he didn't think he would find out so quickly. So soon.

But what did he expect when he and the only friends he'd ever known were always a few steps away from dodging another kunai to the throat?

::

Kiba knew that last night the medic had muttered to herself while she healed his team—how odd it was for another group to appear within the first twelve hour window of the exams and how they'd made it looking like hell ran them through.

She didn't seem to notice that he'd been listening in. Or maybe she did and forgot to care, unwittingly lending him bleak insight to what the future could have in store for them.

The first part of their plan was done mostly right, Kiba knew. They weren't the first team to arrive and they'd given a wide enough time gap not to be associated with the Suna team, but they weren't far enough to not be put under consideration. Had they known they should've stayed in the forest for another eight hours, they wouldn't have come to the tower so quickly.

Kiba's arm throbbed dully in its bandages.

Then again, if they stayed longer, they'd be dead.

He sniffed out the concrete stairway that spiraled all the way up to the roof. He was lucky Sakura wasn't mad enough at him to use any of the scent blockers or overloaders he taught the team, else he would've ignored Shino's suggestion and crawled his ass right back into bed. They didn't even have to talk about their issues _now_.

 _Sakura's scream rattled her water prison, lightning crackling—_

His shoulders hunched as his footsteps echoed on the steps. But Shino was right. He could never hate Sakura.

 _"I'm so-sorry! I didn't mean—I—I was scared an' should't've said those things—"_

His back straightened when another scent crept up from his front and he looked up. His shoulders squared slightly at the sight of the Suna shinobi that silently tread down the steps, black hood pulled back but purple paint immaculate. Kiba thought to his own cheeks absent-mindedly, how smeared they must have looked with the grime of yesterday and the scratch of cheap pillow covers into the night. It would be in less than a year that his paint would turn to ink and there wouldn't be anything to remove the permanent mark of the Inuzuka—the tattooed face of a fanged warrior, his mom and all the other heads before her had called it.

But at least the symbol would be one he'd choose to bear. Unlike others.

The Suna shinobi barely spared him a glance as he brushed past and Kiba struggled to hold back a snort. How'd he manage to smell like sycamore when he lived in nothing but desert?

So Sakura really knew this guy. It was just another something he'd have to bring up.

A nervous energy started to prod his stomach when he stopped at the steel door that separated him from the rooftop. He might want to apologize and smooth things over, but that didn't mean she wanted the same thing. But... she didn't _seem_ mad. Not that it meant anything; Sakura had always been the best at not letting anyone know how she really felt.

And the angriest he'd ever seen her was only a few days ago. At him.

 _"I didn't ask for this."_

He grasped the door knob.

 _"I didn't ask why Dad left me—I didn't ask why Dad thought I was a mistake, because why else would he not_ come back _for me when he_ promised _he would?!"_

Pushed it open.

 _"And if you thought I asked for you to look me in the eye and blame everything on me—that_ I _was the one that made this team unlucky—_ I didn't."

And stepped through.

Sakura was dressed in another one of her navy tanks and black pants, gray hoodie probably tossed in the 'ruined clothes' pile at the foot of their cots. Her elbows propped her up on the half-rusted metal railing as she leaned forward and stared at the grounds below. Not a single strand of hair was out of place in the bun she could tie up in under ten seconds every morning, like always, and she didn't turn around to acknowledge him when she spoke.

"How are you holding up?"

Kiba stuttered to a stop as the door shut behind him. "I—uh, cool?" His face scrunched up. "I mean as cool as we can get after what happened and stuff." He shook his head. "Can we talk?"

She turned her head that time, faint amusement shining behind tired eyes. "We're talking right now, aren't we?"

"You know what I mean."

A beat, and then a quiet sigh. "I do. And I'm sorry."

Kiba only realized he was staring when the words register in his head and incredulity crawls up the back of his tongue. She was sorry? _For what_? She wasn't the one who got all up in her best friend's face to accuse them of being the one to get them all killed.

He winced. He probably deserved more than a dislocated jaw for that one.

"Nu-uh dude, you've got nothin' to be sorry 'bout," he interrupted. Sakura turned around fully and crossed her arms. "I shouldn't've gone all batshit on you earlier. But when you name dropped your dad? And the fact that crazy guy knew who you were?!" He floundered when she frowned and glanced away. "Not that—Not that it's a problem or—"

"But it _is_ the problem," she sighed, and her shoulders slumped under the weight of a thousand pound guilt. "Had it not been for me, my past, my decisions, this wouldn't have happened to us." The space between her brow crinkled. "We could've been a normal team." Quieter, she added. "We could've been free."

And that was the crux of the problem, wasn't it? They were young, they were twelve, they were supposed to be genin with stars in their eyes and a future to behold. They were supposed to be naive to the shinobi life until a gut-sinking reality hit them on a mission that was a little too tough and a little too shattering. They were supposed to realize the life they were meant to lead by following the well placed stone on the path towards their future.

They were never meant to stray. They were never supposed to lose the Will of Fire.

Yet here they stood, snuffed out and burned.

Kiba took hold of her shoulders and forced her gaze up. "I'll always be with this team no matter what else those fuckers throw at us," he said with a conviction unbefitting of someone who learned too early of what it was really like to lose. "So we got in trouble and we got caught. So what? It wasn't just you or your past or any a' that! It was us too! Me and Akamaru and Shino! Did we quit after they caught us the first time?!"

Sakura blinked. "... No."

"Did we ever stop doing what we did? Stop tryna' do the right thing?!"

"No."

"Did we die when they tried to _kill us_?!"

"No? Kiba, what—"

"We're Unlucky Eight! _We're cockroaches, dammit!_ " he exploded. "They're not gonna gut us no matter how much they try and we're in this together no matter what! And I shouldn't've forgotten that." She blinked again when he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, noting the odd angle of her arms and the fact she couldn't even offer a consoling pat. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It wasn't your fault." He hugged her tighter. "None of it was."

Sakura could still feel the faint thrum of sparks beneath her skin. It crawled and itched; last night it made her swipe at a sensation that came and went so quickly she thought she'd imagined it until it came back an hour later, or two hours, or fifteen minutes.

There were times in those sleepless seconds when she wondered about the what ifs. What if it hadn't been her losing her lungs to lightning? What if she had to watch her friends drown and scream?

But she knew that if it had been her choice, she would've taken every single one of their injuries to spare them.

 _Shino grit his teeth. "Anything. Anything for them."_

She let her head fall against Kiba's shoulder. His collarbone thumped against her skull, sturdy and solid, a reminder that it was really there. "Thank you." _—for forgiving me for everything I've put you through._

::

He didn't know how he ended up on the floor, or how the sheet tangled his legs, or how his glasses were even more cracked than how he remembered them from yesterday. There was a faint ringing in his ears— _the Academy bell? No, that didn't sound right. He... He was a genin, wasn't he? He graduated yesterday. Last week. A month ago. Some months ago?_

 _What day was it?_

"Shino, can you look at me?"

 _The voice sounded familiar. Who was talking to him? How did they get there?_

"Just l-lift your head a bit and, uh, you'll see us?" Another voice joined in. "Sakura and I—I mean, I'm Kiba and that's Sakura? Akamaru's here too. He ran out and got us when you fell."

Shino tried to focus on what was in front of him. He saw his hand curled into a first on the concrete as the sweat on his forehead dripped onto his skin. _Why was he looking at the ground?_ But he compelled himself to listen and raised his head— _he fell?_ —slowly until he met two faces. One was pale with eyes the color of the _agapostemon_ , calm and cool as they observed him. The other had red smeared on their cheeks and eyes not quite the color of _osmoderma_ , but close. Those ones were wide with worry, or at least what he thought was worry, and flickered between him and the agapostemon as quickly as the _cicindela hudsoni_ could crawl.

"We're in the tower in the center of the Training Ground 44," Agapostemon said. She. Pale. Pink hair. _Sakura, right?_ "We completed the second portion of the chuunin exams yesterday and we need to wait for everyone else to finish. It's still morning and for now, we're safe."

Osmoder—no, Kiba. It was Kiba. He was sure of it this time. "Y-yeah! But we probably need t'see the medic in a bit. My arm's still bein' hella annoying and I'm pretty sure there were lollipops in that office." He grinned, and Shino saw fangs poking out his mouth. "We should snag a few this time."

Sakura rolled her eyes. The action was familiar.

Then, everything cleared. He remembered. He breathed.

Shino pinched his temple and tried to soothe the oncoming headache he knew he'd have. "I suppose you two are friends again. Why? The tension feels significantly lower than it had been over the last few days.

And just like that, the air eased around them and two bodies settled themselves on either side of him. Akamaru, who'd stood shaking with his tail between his legs, crawled into his lab with a worried snuffle.

Shino glanced to the right. Sakura was there with one arm on his shoulder and the other on her knee. To the left. Kiba clutched his bad arm close and leaned most of his weight into his friend's side.

The cots were crooked, the sheets were rustled, and the longer they stayed on the stone cold floor the more sore they knew they'd be later.

Though despite everything, it was almost... peaceful.

"Y'know, I'm kinda glad it's you guys I'm stuck with," Kiba said after some moments. "Like everything's fucked and, let's be real, we're probably gonna die before the year's up. But at least we're not being boring about it."

Shino picked up his glasses with a shaking hand and placed them on the bridge of his nose. His sight was cracked and all sorts of wrong he didn't know how to fix, but when Sakura held his hand to calm his tremors and Kiba looped his good arm around his to keep him steady, it made him think the world wouldn't grow as half empty as he'd thought it would.

The three of them stared at the blank wall ahead of them. After a panic attack, an argument, and Orochimaru, it all lead them to another silent agreement.

Another perspective.

"Mm," he agreed. "Though it's no use to die without leaving something significant behind."

"And what's it gonna be?"

They didn't see the memories of a self-proclaimed god flash behind Sakura's eyes. Of a god who promised peace but had yet to bring forth something other than war.

"We'll make a bucket list later," she promised, "but for now, we do what we came to the exams for."

Her lips quirked up as she met her friends' curious stares.

"We survive."

::

Kisame grimaced as he tugged the collar of the gray flak jacket he'd been stuffed in. Orochimaru was one of the most repulsive people he'd ever had the misfortune of meeting and working alongside with and, even after years of service followed by a prompt departure, that disgust had never lessened.

And now that he had to live with a seal of Orochimaru's moral perversion on his neck? He wanted to do nothing more than tear that bastard to shreds.

He let his hand fall to clasp the other behind his back. Another henge, another shift in his plans, and now he was standing behind one of the people he hated the most under the guise of 'supervising sensei' to the Oto team that managed to pass.

Twenty one genin stood in the main arena of the Tower. It didn't take him long to pick out his pup and her teammates, and once he spotted that pink hair paired with an iron expression in the last row, he tried not to smile. He heard they were the second to arrive after the Suna team with the Ichibi, and he wanted nothing more than to sweep her up in his arms and tell her over and over how proud he was.

But when he glanced over at Orochimaru and saw amusement weaving his eyes into an unsettling crease, it made him wonder.

"First, I'd like to congratulate all of you in finishing the second test," the Third Hokage started. He looked older and more frail in those swamping robes, but Kisame knew better than to underestimate a shinobi like that. "And before I go over the third test, I'd like to explain why it's all of you standing here with passing marks. The true purpose of what you endured to get here. Why do allied nations conduct these exams together?" He scanned the crowd before him. "We do it to garner stronger shinobi and keep a steady friendship among us all, and it won't do us all any good to misinterpret that statement. The tests are, so to speak, a battle between nations to showcase strength and power."

A few of the genin exchanged glances with one another. Kisame noted that his pup's team, Team Eight, watched the Hokage with something he wasn't quite sure how to make sense of.

"Instead of exhausting military strength for this cause, the idea of the Chuunin Exams was brought forth."

"Th-Then what's the point of this?!" the Kyuubi jinchuuriki—Uzumaki Naruto—blurted out. "You're not choosing chuunin?"

The Third exhaled a cloud of smoke. "This is still a way to select those worthy of becoming chuunin. But, this is also a venue for those who shoulder the weight of their nation's pride to fight for their lives and demonstrate their competency."

Akamaru bared his teeth.

Kiba's mouth curled into a silent snarl.

Shino's face grew cold.

And to Kisame's utter bewilderment, Sakura lifted her chin to mouth the words _nation's pride_ like it was poison on her tongue. After casting a cursory glance around the arena, he saw that all the upper level shinobi were too focused on the Hokage to notice her action, and if he were more attentive to the old fool he would've missed it too.

He frowned.

"Feudal lords and prominent figures who request shinobi services are invited to the third test as guests. And all interested shinobi from any nation, participating or not, will be the ones to watch your battles. Whichever nation impresses the most are the ones who gain the bulk of job requests, and the requests towards nations deemed weak will decline."

"So why fight for our lives?" Kiba questioned. His tone was accusing, and it made Orochimaru grin like he'd found something particularly curious.

"The nation's strength is the village's strength," the Third said in a voice with a strange lilt. "And the only way for the true strength of the shinobi to show is in the fight for one's life—" Sakura tilted her head to the side— "because even one life has meaning, and that will be honored here."

She smiled, bitter and disbelieving. Kisame blinked.

That was a smile that one gave a another when they knew a lie just tumbled from their mouth. It was a smile that accepted deception even if it didn't approve of it; it resigned itself because there was no way of forcing the truth. Shinobi gave them when they knew they'd won some proverbial battle and civilians gave them when a rumor took one step too far.

He grew up around smiles like those.

And if a Hokage received such from a _genin_ , it worried him more than it ought to.

But a smile like that… Orochimaru relished in it.

"Then why call it a 'friendship'?!" a pink-shirted genin spoke up from the back.

"Balance can and will be preserved by fighting and removing life," the Third stated firmly. "Fighting for your own life and your dream and the pride of your village is the shinobi way."

Kisame spared a look at the Hokage. A shinobi way, huh? The first one he had he'd left behind when he spilled Suikazan's blood across floors and walls and ceilings. The second passed along with Saki, and as he stood in that hospital room and watched as the light faded from her eyes, he knew he had to protect, protect, protect. From then on, his little girl was who he lived for. His shinobi way.

 _I won't let Sakura die before me._

"Anything is fine." The Ichibi jinchuuriki's face remained unchanging since the meeting was called. "What do we need to do for the third test?"

The Third nodded. "Now then."

A figure dropped before the Hokage in a respective kneel, head bowed and fist pressed into the ground. His body hung gaunt and his face looked like it had seen better days. "Hokage-sama, please allow me, Gekko Hayate, who was deigned the task of judge to explain."

The Third took a step back as Hayate turns to address the twenty one pairs of eyes that landed on him. "Ah, a circumstance according to the rules of these exams have come to light." He cleared his throat. Kisame pursed his lips. Konoha allowed sickly shinobi to operate in their ranks? "A preliminary test needs to be taken with the participation in the last test as the prize."

The Nara boy in the group sputtered. "What do you mean _preliminary_?"

"How do I explain this..." Hayate muttered. He cleared his throat again. "Perhaps it's because the first two tests were easy, or perhaps here's a better batch of participants this year. Either way there are too many of you left to compete, you see?"

Kisame straightened. He'd get to see his pup fight today?

"If all of you fought tomorrow, that's eleven matches to follow through a bracket system—" He interrupted himself with a few hacking coughs. "—excuse me. And none of us want to be there all day, so you either make the cut now or you don't." He plucked a small notebook from his flak jacket and opened it up somewhere in the middle. "Those of you who wish to drop out, please speak up now."

Half the standing teams had only arrived either this morning or the afternoon before, so if anyone has to worry about fatigue or not performing at their best, it was them.

"Ah, and I forgot to mention, but it will be individual battles from now on. Every genin for themselves," added Hayate. "It's your decision. There will be no team consequences."

Kisame quietly inhaled as the feeling of getting stabbed by a sharpened kunai jut out from his cursed seal. The waves of pain had been coming out faster and faster since taking it on, but he wouldn't give Orochimaru the satisfaction of letting it show.

He refocused on the participants when one of the attendees in the front raised their hand with an eye crinkle and a smile.

"Excuse me," he ventured. "I'll quit."

Hayate's finger slid down a page in his book. "Let's see... Yakushi Kabuto of Konohagakure, correct? You may step back."

"K-Kabuto? Why the hell're you quittin'?!" Naruto exclaimed. Sakura's gaze flickered to the side for the first time, eyes dark and calculating—a look that had Kisame pause. He didn't know what she'd experienced since he'd left her, but he didn't expect such an expression on her face. It was cold and unforgiving, a stark contrast to the bubbly smiles she smiled almost every day back in those easier years.

A part of him was glad that she was turning into a fine shinobi. A part of him hated that she might lose the sunshine she once asked so fervently to see one day.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Kabuto sighed. "I'm worn out. Actually, when we faced the guys from Oto in the first test, I'd lost all hearing in my left ear. And being told that I'd be laying my life on the line? In a scenario like this? I won't."

Sakura turned back towards the front. There's no suspicion, only irritated resignation.

"I've seen that face a few times," the Third murmured. Kisame and Orochimaru lent their ears to the quiet conversation on the side between the Hokage and his two subordinates: first proctor Morino Ibiki and second proctor Mitarashi Anko. "As I recall, I'm sure he dropped out of the main battle from the last exam. What reason could he have to drop out then and now?"

Morino narrowed his eyes and considered. "Anko."

"I'm looking." Anko flipped through her clipboard. "Yakushi Kabuto has failed six straight times."

"And?"

"Ordinary grades, passed the graduation exam on his third try, completed two C-ranks and fourteen D-ranks. Nothing special. A little less than average, if you ask me." She let the papers flutter back over. "But he's also the boy brought back from the Battle of Kikyo Pass, if that means anything to you, Hokage-sama."

Kisame counted the strides it took Kabuto to retreat from the arena. Near silent steps, a character wrapped with riddles, and an underlying threat beneath a friendly facade. He remembered Orochimaru's twisted spies as he saw them, and he knew for a fact that Sakura never forgot a face.

 _Had he been to Ame when Sakura was still around? Had Sakura seen him before? Had_ he _seen Sakura before? If he had, would he write her real name in the the skies for the world to see?_

The quiet, unsettled air was interrupted by another cough. "Are there any more others who wish to quit?"

No one responded. Hayate coughed and shut his book.

"Alright. Let the preliminaries begin."

::

The second Kurenai heard the dismissal, she rushed up to the second floor and waited in a far back corner where she was sure none of the other teams would dare crowd within meters of her spot. With crossed arms and the impatient tapping of her feet, she eyed the stairs like a hawk.

Her kids. That's all she could think about the moment the meeting was called and she was told to stand in line with the rest of the sensei of the passing teams. They made it through—of course her team of wonderful, talented, reckless kids made it—but when she found out they made it through as the _second_ team in the _first_ day, she'd almost blown a gasket.

Their plan was to lay low. Ever since the beginning of their secrecy and their delving into the righteous and illegal, they'd wanted nothing more than to be a passing thought. A fuzzy recollection. And she respected that. But she knew the only way for them to call such attention to themselves was if they were compromised.

 _"Sakura found a viper in the grass."_

She bit the inside of her cheek and shut her eyes. Despite the million questions running through her head, there was one she needed to know the answer to before everything else.

If they were compromised, who was responsible: Sarutobi Hiruzen or Orochimaru?

A headache started to creep up from the base of her skull. The fact that she even needed to ask that question was a different problem for a different day.

Kiba was the first to ascend the stairs with Akamaru in the front of his jacket, followed by Shino, then Sakura. Almost immediately she observed every movement, trying to single out new motions they could've picked up in the week she hadn't seen them.

She singled out three things.

The first was the way Akamaru cowered into his partner. Something worried him enough to keep him scared. If the comfort of his partner wasn't enough to calm him down, then there was a larger threat looming over the exams. Was it still Hiruzen? Had it changed to Orochimaru? Was it some sick combination of both?

And if Orochimaru was here for someone, who would she have to protect?

The second was Sakura's position at the back of the group. It was normal to assume her at the helm as she was the one to dive in head first and ask questions later, but she walked like she was trying to guard her team from something. Someone?

The third was the sway of Shino's head from side to side. It was slight and unassuming where most people wouldn't notice if they weren't looking, but he'd never done it before.

To the side, the electric sign board lit up with the first match of the preliminaries:

 _Akado Yoroi v. Uchiha Sasuke_

She ignored it once her team walked within arms' reach.

Kiba was the closest so she pulled him in by the shoulder, ignoring his squawk of _hey, Kurenai-sensei!_ and twisted his chin from side to side to scope out anything bruised or broken. Once he passed her inspection, she moved on to his arms, his torso, his legs.

No injuries. Good.

Her fingers gently threaded through Akamaru's fur. No bumps or nicks, and she even managed to get a quick tail wag from him. Also good.

Her hand shot out to the next closest victim of her scrutiny.

Sakura stared blankly when her cheeks were squished between two bandaged hands. "Hello, Kurenai-shenshei."

"Hello, Sakura," she bid back. Kurenai released her face and turned her around. "Kiba, Akamaru, I'm glad you're uninjured." She sighed. "I'll admit you've all had me worried, but I've resigned myself to being in that constant state. I'll have a full head of gray hair by the time you're chuunin."

She spun Sakura back forward, satisfied with her state. When she tugged Shino over and planted him before her, she already knew something was off when he kept his head bowed and glued his arms to his sides.

She rested a hand on his shoulder. "Shino..."

"Good morning, Kurenai-sensei," he greeted softly. He flexed the fingers of his left hand. "I understand you're concerned with our well-being and truly, we're grateful, but there are some... circumstances you need to be aware of later on. Why? Because this is a public setting. I would not like to discuss this here, please."

A rumble of shouts in the arena had Sakura turning her head to look, likely to catalog the ongoings for future reference rather than interest.

Kurenai squeezed his shoulder. "Alright," she said. "Update me on everything after the preliminaries. Both the good _and_ the bad."

Though she doubted there would be very much good.

By the time she regained her bearings the first match was over in a breeze. Uchiha Sasuke was declared victor and both he and Akado Yoroi were hauled off to the infirmary before any permanent damage could settle. As the arena cleared and the sign board whirs, two more names spit out.

 _Abumi Zaku v. Aburame Shino_

::

Orochimaru's tongue flickered out of his henge in unmasked excitement, earning himself a disgusted glance from Kisame.

"He's off the table too," he hissed. "Whatever weird fixation you have with him, I suggest you quit."

"Really?" Orochimaru mused. "And I thought you were only here for your little darling sweetheart."

"What I do ain't any a' your business," he sneered.

The sannin chuckled, a dry sound that did nothing but grate along the inside of the ears. "No need to raise your hackles, _Ki-kun_." His eyes still shone that putrid, sickly color. "I've already had my way with him."

And Kisame's skin _crawled_.

His fingers itched for Samehada that he'd cast to look like a regular katana slung across his back, but he recognized the provocation. And the truth. He didn't ask what kinds of twisted things he'd done to the boy because there was no way in hell he'd get a straight answer, so he crossed his arms and turned back towards the arena.

Aburame Shino was staring straight at them. At least, that's what he assumed through those tinted lenses.

And he kept at it until he was down the stairs and stood in front of his matched opponent.

"He can pick out your henge?" Kisame murmured.

"It seems that way, doesn't it?" replied Orochimaru. "I shouldn't be surprised. Sakura-chan has certainly surrounded herself with... _interesting_ people."

Down below Hayate eyed the two competitors—Shino with his hands in his coat pockets and Zaku with arms flexed at the ready—then stepped back. "Begin!"

For three whole heartbeats no sound was made save for the shallow breaths of anticipation.

Then,

"If I fight here, you'll be finished," Shino said. His head tilted slightly to the left while his lenses don't quite meet his opponent's face. "I only ask this once of you. Withdraw."

"Heh, you think I'm scared of a weakling?" Zaku extended one arm, the hole in his palm visible for all to see. "One arm is enough ta' take care of you!" He charged forward with his arm barreling towards Shino's head, but it was blocked with ease, the latter barely moving as their forearms clashed.

"You can't beat me with one arm," he said. "And the only thing you're good for is to drive a message back."

Kisame could feel the cold edge of those words from the railing. It reminded him of Kakuzu on a day when Hidan decided to be his special brand of annoying. Curt, clipped, and probably _this_ close to snapping the neck of the next person that didn't cut the shit.

And much like Hidan, Zaku either didn't know or didn't care that he was playing with fire. "Stop screwin' with me!"

In that instance, before Zaku could even think to bring up a leg and swing or shoot out a sound shock wave, his wrist was twisted in Shino's hand.

Kisame heard it before he saw it. They all did.

A faint hum shook the air, not like whispers nor footsteps, but something entirely inhuman. Everyone turned their heads behind them, to the right, the left, down, up, then flailed back at the bugs that crawled along the walls and the floor and from _the three holes that opened up on Shino's left cheek_.

The flood of bugs kept coming as Zaku grew more horrified when they start up his arms.

"What the fuck—" He shook off his shock and growled. "Your freak show's not gonna do jack shit!" His other hand came up, palm outward. " _Zankuha_!"

A blast of chakra-fueled air didn't propel from his hands.

Instead, the pressure erupted from his forearms and amputated his limbs from the elbow down.

Kisame's brows shot up to his hairline, and beside him, Orochimaru almost laughed. Shino wasted no time in pulling a shell-shocked Zaku forward, stepping up, and smashing an elbow so hard in the Oto-nin's face that the force sent him flying meters back to crash and lie in the blood that pooled from what was left of his arms.

Silence. Deafening, screaming silence.

The blonde on the Nara's team had her hands over her mouth. The kyuubi jinchuuriki's eyes were so wide they could've been mistaken for plates. The shorter green jumpsuit's hands shook.

But Kiba wasn't surprised. There was no disgust or repulsion, but he clicked his tongue like he'd been inconvenienced. Kurenai's eyes flickered around the battle so quickly her irises blurred into a brush of red. And Sakura—

 _And pup._

Pup was tired. Beside Kiba, she stood with the confidence he once taught her on a muddy training ground while the rain flattened their hair to their heads. Back straight, chin level, expression filled with everything she wanted the world to see and nothing she didn't.

But he couldn't speak for the distant look in her eyes. And when Hayate stepped in to announce the winner and medics rush the scene with glowing green hands and a stretcher, Shino looked up at his team and Sakura nodded like she was—

"Satisfied," Orochimaru said. "Sakura-chan was satisfied with the outcome of the match." His fingers tapped against his smiling lips. "Do you know what this means?"

Kisame repressed the memories of green eyes that lit up whenever Papa came home and turned. "What?"

"That Sakura-chan might have a little more red dawn in her than I first thought." He chuckled, eyes darkening in mockery. "Everything you wanted to keep her away from, she kept anyways." Quietly, he hummed. "That Hoshigaki blood is truly wonderful..."

"Hoshigaki blood. Not _your_ blood," Kisame growled. "And don't give her credit just for that, she got here all on her own."

Orochimaru dipped his head in consideration, dark hair brushing against his cheek. "That she did," he agreed. "And a lovely little leader she's turning out to be." His eyes lit in mischief. "Do you think Pein would be proud?"

::

Kankuro whistled as he leaned against the railing. So Konoha did have some hardcore genin, absolutely nothing like those brats he ran into when he first got to the village. And yeah, maybe that Uchiha Sasuke had something to watch out for with the way his kekkai genkai flashed and how he slammed down his opponent using some wild taijutsu move, but Aburame Shino?

He tore off that Oto-nin's arms without even touching them.

It was gruesome and nothing he'd ever consider doing himself, but he could appreciate the strength and strategy of a good fight from afar. Sure, they were working alongside Oto in a siege against Konoha, but that didn't mean he had to like those stuck up wannabes who thought Orochimaru was some sort of God.

Kankuro tracked Shino's face that entire match. Had he gone straight for the kill with a smile, it would've been like watching another Gaara on a rampage. But there had been some finesse in the way those forearms exploded in synchrony before Abumi was forced into unconsciousness.

He met Sakura's eye across the way. She smirked. He returned it.

At least she isn't the only impressive one on her team.

He tore his eyes away before his siblings could catch an inkling of a suspicion and moved his attention to the board. Text cycled through for a handful of seconds before the next two names appear.

 _Tsurugi Misumi v. Kankuro_

He felt the burn of Sakura's stare and resisted the urge to throw up a smug look—we're not here for fun and games, we're not here to make friends—as a frown abruptly took the place of his smirk. Right. Not here to make friends. Siege on Konoha. He knew what he had to do and Temari had no reason to get on his back about it.

Kankuro walked past a scoffing Baki, a scowling Gaara, and an indifferent Temari on his way down to the stadium.

But if he chanced a look over a shoulder and a little down to the right, he would've seen Sakura, the loosened coil of her shoulders, and her assurance that he wouldn't come out of this match as anything but the victor.

::

Kisame didn't pay much attention to this one.

He'd seen enough puppet tricks out of Akasuna no Sasori, and watching some of the more basic ones replicated by a newer Sunagakure generation entertained him if anything, but it was a fight that lasted less than five minutes. The Suna genin's deception was smart and Tsurugi was too full of himself to even consider falling for a decoy, so the outcome had already been decided then.

When the names _Sakura v. Yamanaka Ino_ appeared on screen, his blood started to pump that much faster.

"Aren't we excited?"

Kisame exhaled through his nose and silently counted to ten. "Are you going to keep asking me questions like that?"

"Well, no need to be testy." Orochimaru stepped close enough for their arms to touch, and Kisame barely restrained himself enough to rip that very arm from its socket. "All I meant was that I'm just as eager to see that little Yamanaka get put in her place as you are."

"Go, Sakura-chan!" a voice called from the other side of the tower. The Uzumaki practically hung over the railing, smile wide and both hands waving in the air. "I'll be cheerin' you on, 'ttebayo!"

For the first time since the preliminaries started, Sakura smiled.

And Kisame felt his heart slowly sink. He already took away everything she ever knew when he allowed Konoha to take her.

Could he take away one of her friends too?

In the arena, Hayate called start.

Both moved at the same time.

Sakura swung a roundhouse kick towards Yamanaka's head — _that's odd, she was slower than she should be_ —blocked a punch to her face and countered with a low sweep that was avoided with a quick jump and a back flip. She was crouched when she reached for a handful of kunai— _her opponent should already be downed and pierced through the leg_ —and launched them just a little off their mark. One was caught, thrown back, and she barely avoided it with a quick shift in stance.

Baffled, Kisame scoped out her team. Kiba's nose was scrunched like he swallowed something bitter and Shino had barely bat an eye (like he could see through those glasses, but one could guess), but there were no tells. Not even from Kurenai who watched with a gaze just as keen as when Shino fought his part.

"She's throwing the match," he whispered.

"Indeed. That certainly isn't the little Sakura-chan that I watched drown," Orochimaru drawled, smiling at how quick his companion's head snapped toward him. "She may not have the moniker of beast like some of us, Ki-kun, but I saw _you_ in her eyes when I asked her to thank me. _That_ girl in the forest held the capacity to gut any Konoha duckling I could offer on a plate. _This_ girl is some mediocre genin that must've passed the Academy on a pity plea." He sneered. "Believe me when I say she's a beautiful actress."

Another million questions swelled his brain. Why would she have to thank Orochimaru? When did they meet in the forest? Just... how much has she grown without him?

Kisame bit his tongue. "Why go through the trouble?"

Orochimaru licked his lips, his gaze trailing from Sakura, then slowly up to old Sarutobi Hiruzen. "Now that's the grand question of the day, isn't it?"

::

Sakura took every other punch. Every third kick. Every time she blocked she cycled through five different forms before she started over from the beginning, but that's only for physical attacks. For the weapons she didn't let a single one hit—block, dodge, block, dodge, block, dodge—every block rang with metal and every dodge was just a little too close it could've hit if she stood a centimeter to the side.

It was a routine. It was a pattern. It was _formulaic_.

Hiruzen knew exactly what she was doing.

He ground down on his pipe until it was on the verge of shattering, the risk of splintering his tongue the only thing stopping him from going through with it. Her and that team, Unlucky Eight he'd heard them called around the career chuunin, were something to behold.

Shino's display was succinct and cruel. His warning of blasted arms and a knockout was one of his capabilities and that what he did wasn't even close to the full extent of them. Maybe no one else knew that, but if someone could leave Danzo's clutches with an even greater will of defiance, then they were something to watch and fear.

Shino destroyed while he sought the knowledge to heal. Sakura was all sharp wit and stone cold facts but played a lie so well he would've been impressed if he wasn't being so thoroughly mocked. And Kiba was one to take all the opportunities he could see...

How much Kiba would come to add had yet to show.

Hiruzen pulled the pipe from his lips and exhaled a billow of smoke. Sakura was making herself damn well evenly matched when she followed Ino's bunshins, taijutsu, and evasion tactics. Thirty more seconds in and Sakura started to quicken her pace, forcing Ino to double up. Fifteen seconds after that and Sakura breaks her pattern. Twenty seconds from then is when he realizes she'd decided to have Ino run her chakra reserves dry for a purely physical battle.

Apparently, that was all it took for one of them to lose it.

" _That does it_!" snapped Ino. She thrust both arms out as two fingers and thumbs come together to form a circle. Sakura frowned—with feigned confusion, Hiruzen imagined —and took a defensive stance, then visibly realizing her legs were trapped by chakra strings. "I'm tired of you, dammit! _Shintenshin_!"

::

Orochimaru leaned forward. The dear Hoshigaki caught herself in a bind and braced herself to take on the mind transfer like a masochist took a knife to the shoulder blade. But before the Yamanaka could even complete it, could even shed every ounce of her consciousness, Sakura palpably wrenched forward and Yamanaka's spirit slammed back into herself so hard she toppled backward.

Sakura held her shoulders back with an ice cold aura. "When you fight me," she said, "you stay out of my head." Yamanaka doesn't move. In response, she shunshinned, pulled her up by her purple top, and brought her nose to nose. "Understand?"

Yamanaka snapped out of it by kicking Sakura back and launching herself to the far end of the arena.

"... It's that easy to break out of a mind bind like that?" asked Kisame. The lines in his face were marred with concern as his pup wiped sweat from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. "She threw 'er back like a ragdoll."

"Not at all," Orochimaru grinned, sly and plotting. "In fact, it should be near impossible to do so at such speeds."

The match ended in a tie from a double knockout, thus a double elimination. The Yamanaka was far too drained of chakra to try any more tricks, and it appeared Sakura had been too (but he couldn't be sure, chakra control was one of the reasons Pein had such an interest in her), so twin punches to the jaw equaled a forfeit.

Two more match ups flew by as merely a passing interest. One was between a Konoha kunoichi and a Suna kunoichi as the latter brutalized her opponent so thoroughly that she was hauled off to the infirmary almost as quickly as Abumi had been. The other was between a Nara and one of Orochimaru's own subordinates, a genjutsu specialist, and Orochimaru knew her cockiness was what brought her downfall.

But the next match. Oh, _that_ was one that would have him in knots.

 _Uzumaki Naruto v. Inuzuka Kiba_

Sakura, appearing only slightly disheveled and like she'd never been in a fight in the first place, bent towards Kiba and said something behind her hand. Whatever it was had him huff and grin, and Orochimaru read the movement of his lips with a quirked brow.

 _"Don't worry. We'll be gracious 'bout it."_

Uzumaki was mostly rowdy swings and shouts of excitement all the way down to the starting point. "Hey! Hey, Kiba! Akamaru! Ready for me to kick your guys' asses all over this dumb tower?!"

Kiba laughed as he pat his partner's head. "Think whatever you want, Uzumaki. I'll turn you inta' a human mop and wipe the floor with ya'!"

At his side, Kisame chuckled at the exchange and he nearly rolled his eyes. Ever the soft sort with children when the only tangible things about them were how easy their brains could be meshed and molded. He didn't say anything this time, though, because angering Kisame to unfathomable heights was in poor taste, even for him.

The moment Hayate signaled the fight to a start, chakra threaded through Kiba's muscles and he dashed forward at almost neck-breaking speeds to full body slam into Uzumaki and chuck him across the arena.

Must of the first half of the battle went as such. Uzumaki was positively overwhelmed and couldn't keep up as he was bombarded with lightning-fast taijutsu in a smoke ball dense field. At least, at first glance.

Kisame, who specialized in fighting in foggy and sight-free conditions, pointed out the first thing he noticed. "Uzumaki switched places with Akamaru."

"A fair tactic."

"Kiba's not supposed to notice, so he's attacking who he thinks 's Uzumaki, but is actually Akamaru."

"Ah yes, thank you for the explanation. Might you please tell me about what chakra is next? Perhaps the definition of a jutsu?"

Kisame glared. "Kiba's an Inuzuka. Clan's got a great sense of smell and hearin', right?" Before he gets cut off with another snarky reply, he continued. " _So_ , with all that enhanced and thinkin' he's tricked, why's he pretending to hit Akamaru and why's Akamaru pretending to get hit?"

Orochimaru paused and watched as the smoke cleared. And just as Kisame said, 'Uzumaki' was downed and 'Akamaru' had turned to sink his teeth in his partner's arm. The switch happened and everyone was surprised, even Kiba, and the match furthered.

"Another thrown fight," he murmured. At this point, he could freely admit he had no idea what Sakura's team's aim was. The first fight could be called the most brutal thus far and the second the most meticulously drawn out. The third was quite possibly a show of suspense, and if Kiba kept going the way he was, Uzumaki might actually end up winning, marking the battle for the underdog. A team with a win, a tie, then maybe a loss.

 _"Kill the... the Hokage?"_

Were they trying to make a stand?

 _"I hate everything you... stand for. I ha-hate everything you... did..."_

Akamaru morphed into a Kiba clone and the lightning-taijutsu began again. But even with full clarity and double the power, Uzumaki dodged better and started to think like a real shinobi—predicting attacks and constantly planning ahead.

It wasn't until he dodged straight up in the air that Kiba and Akamaru took a chance and leapt up as two torrents.

" _GATSUUGA_!"

A blur of orange collided into the stone floor with a crack as blood started to streak into spiked blond hair. Kiba stretched up from his crouch and strode forward toward the shaking body.

"Oi," he said. "Get up and finish this fight." He stopped just short of the face-down body. When Uzumaki made no grand gesture, he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Come on! I thought you wanted ta' be the future Hokage!"

 _"I'll hate every... everything you decide to d-do."_

Then a pepper bomb was thrown out from Uzumaki's hand straight towards Kiba's nose. The Inuzuka staggered back and tried to breathe as nine of his opponent's clones swarm the arena and chant a war cry as one.

"I'll be Hokage one day!" they shouted. Orochimaru tutted at the high octave of his voice. "And they'll all know the name U-!"

One of the clones punched Kiba back and second snatched Akamaru and held him in a choke hold.

"-zu-!"

Another barreled him to the side.

"-ma-!"

And a fourth kicked him up in the air.

"-ki!"

The real one shunshinned above him and drove a heel kick down towards the arena. "Naruto, dattebayo!"

And it was the end of the match.

The medics carried Kiba off out on a stretcher. His eyes opened just before they passed the arch towards the hallway and he smirked, settling himself into the cloth of the stretcher.

Orochimaru saw his comfort and satisfaction. Another plan fulfilled, it seemed, yet he still didn't know exactly what _for_. Why throw the matches, go through the trouble? What could be worth risking their careers? Was it a power struggle? Politics?

" _But if you eve-ever had a con… conscience—"_

His gaze slid to his old sensei who'd born no expression the entire fight.

He grinned. He always loved a good puzzle.

 _"—then you be... better make sure the bastard bleeds."_

He looked back to one Hoshigaki Kisame who was oblivious to the gears turning in his head.

After all, Hoshigaki Sakura and her team wanted the Hokage dead.

What fun would it be if he just told her father about it?

::

At this point, Hiruzen knew Danzo was right.

Shino destroyed while he sought the knowledge to heal. Sakura was all sharp wit and stone cold facts but played a lie so well he would've been impressed if he wasn't being so thoroughly mocked.

And Kiba was one to take all the opportunities he could see, but wouldn't hesitate to lend an opportunity to someone who deserved it.

Shino won because he could. Sakura tied because she could. Kiba lost because he could.

And he didn't kill them because he couldn't.

Hiruzen sighed, long suffering and silent.

He knew what he had to do.

::

Thank you all for being so patient with me with the long stretches of time between updates! 3

Also I have an Instagram now, still under writer168! All covers and fanart submitted will be posted both there and tumblr, so check it out!

And if you haven't already heard, I've created a discord server! Here's the link: **ht tp** **s:/ /discord. gg/YdkfMyW** (remove spaces)

The server even includes a sneak-peek channel where I'll update quick looks at chapters I'm currently working on if I'm making you guys wait too long!


	30. A Seed in Spring

A month was all they had to prepare. For Shino and the other winners, in the very least.

Sakura drummed her fingers against her elbow for a few beats before she and Shino moved towards the hallway of the infirmary. Kurenai excused herself mere moments ago to attend the next briefing for the Hokage, but the slight nod and assuring smile she'd parted with meant they'd have a lot to talk about once they were all in the clear.

As they walked, Shino murmured faintly about the snake that hung around the balcony, eyeing the fights—picking out his next meal and conversing inaudibly with some black-haired lackey that wore a white shirt under his flak jacket and a faded yellow bandana looped around his neck. Looked a bit like an emperor penguin in that get up, he supposed, but whoever it was paid far too much attention to _her_ fight as opposed to the rest.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. A snake and a penguin with nothing better to do; she shouldn't be surprised. Orochimaru and all those like him never settled. Were never satisfied. Insatiable.

"They'd left as soon as Hayate-san called the end of the last match," Shino confirmed softly. "Why? To avoid speculation is the most likely reason. My insects can no longer trace them."

They turned a corner. A handful of genin scattered this wing of the tower, all of them with a teammate or two set up in the five new rooms that had been converted to extra infirmary rooms. Weaving easily through the string of bodies in the hall, they slipped into the fourth exam room and approached the cot closest to the door.

Akamaru immediately lifted his head and swished his tail in greeting. It was the happiest they'd seen him in days, and he butted against both Sakura's and Shino's sides until they graced him with solid head pats.

Kiba grinned despite the bruise that was starting to form on his cheek, and Sakura flicked his nose for the trouble. "Please refrain from moving your face like that. Has a medic already taken a look at your injuries?"

"A buncha' bruises, hairline fracture in my right arm, nasal irritation from the pepper bomb," he listed with a pout. Shino's hand glowed faintly as he held it against his friend's face. "Nothin' too bad. I'll be good in like an hour or somethin'. What'd we miss?"

"Just Hayate-san's closing words and that the final line-up will be announced in the coming week," she replied. Beside her, Shino bent to take a closer look at the bandaged arm. Akamaru carefully padded up the sheets to watch. "Snake's gone since there's no more rats to feed on. Penguin went with him."

"Penguin?"

"Don't know what kind, though I've been told it's close enough to a reptile."

Kiba settled against his pillow, a thoughtful look crossing his face. As Sakura folded her arms and leaned against the wall behind her, she couldn't help the discomforting feeling that came with the end of the second part of the exams. Eight competitors were left: three from the same Suna team, four rookies from Konoha, and one Konoha genin that actually held a year of experience under his belt. One of Maito Gai's.

She expected more of a diverse group of finalists, but with the attendance of two jinchuuriki and several new generation clan children, she understood the general turn out. An Uchiha, a Hyuuga, a Nara—

She pushed herself off the wall and peered at the door. It meets her stare blankly, and does so for a spare handful of moments before she answers the questioning looks from her team.

"I'll be right back," she said. Just as she passed through the open door, she caught sight of Shino's mild shrug and Kiba throwing his hands up in exasperation.

Sakura appraised both ends of the hallway before deciding on left, then making another left, then a right until she was back at the entrance of the arena. Most of everyone had gone by now, even the Hokage and his subordinates, but there was a lone silhouette inside staring up at the ram steal statue with his hands in his pockets and a puppet hanging from his back.

"Your teammate's pretty decent. That Aburame? Never thought arms could blow themselves off like that," he mused. "I wonder if I'll get to fight him in the finals."

"If you're his opponent, I'm sure he'll be thrilled," she answered. His head tilted to the side before he rounds toward her, an accusing flare running through his eyes.

"Your fight, though? Gotta say was kinda lacking."

"You're probably not the only one to think that."

"And yet you found me here when I left a trace for you to sense, something none of the other genin picked up on. Strange how you weren't able to beat Yamanaka in the first thirty seconds, right?"

The corner of Sakura's lips lifted as she strode forward until they were about a foot apart. "Kankuro," she started. Her tone was calm and even, but worked opposite of reassuring as his slight teasing smirk dropped off. "Why am I here?"

Nervousness swelled as an oncoming tide and he looked down like his sandals suddenly needed all of his attention. His forehead creased and his teeth ground together minutely, and when he looked up again, a sliver of determination wound through his gaze.

"In a month, don't die, alright?" he warned. She raised a brow.

"What?"

"You gone deaf? Don't. Die," he repeated. Kankuro glanced over her shoulder, pressed his lips into a grim line, then refocused on Sakura. He expected her to be worried, even just a bit, but faint amusement made her mouth curl upwards even more as she tipped her head.

"I won't," she promised. Quietly, he exhaled through his nose and took a step back to start to catch up with his siblings before they could grow too suspicious of his whereabouts. But, a hand latched onto his arm quicker than he could anticipate and he was facing her again.

Sakura held her shoulders back as her spine straightened like those jackals he'd sometimes see around his village—eyes sharp, cold. Observing. In the smaller villages north of Suna, civilian populated, he remembered hearing of a god they worshiped; head of a jackal, body of a man; the protector of cemeteries, the dead; a judge before the afterlife.

Here as she stood, he thought she'd have no trouble taking the role.

 _Why the hell didn't she bring that Yamanaka to her knees?_

"I don't like snakes," she said, and she _knew_. "Do you?"

Kankuro thought of his village. His father, his sister, his brother, his duty. How he would risk everything for them all, but he was risking the same for one person he'd met only weeks ago.

An enemy? A stranger?

 _A friend_ , a small part of him whispered.

And the last of his resolve crumbled. "No. I don't."

She let go of his arm and stepped back, that small smile resurfacing. "Then I'll see you around, Kankuro the Sightseer."

She disappeared.

"... Geez," he mumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Seriously, how did she _not_ win that fight?"

::

Kurenai's fingers didn't stop tapping against her kitchen table until she sensed her kids at the door. In a second her hand was on the handle and the door was pulled back; Kiba's fist was up midway through a knock, Akamaru was nestled comfortably in Shino's hood as the latter had his hands tucked in his coat pockets, and Sakura leaned against the railing. Whole, almost physically unscathed.

She quickly ushered them into her kitchen. The oven timer ticked down softly as most of them shuffled into seats. While Kiba set up his seals (they were new ones, Kurenai noticed, and they look far more complicated than the last), no one spoke. Shino didn't lift his head from the salt shaker on the table and Sakura's eyes burned into his side.

When Kiba finally took his seat, the silence continued to persist. Kurenai tapped her fingers against her leg, wondering why she hadn't prepared tea for them to sip or or started on those brownies earlier so they would've been ready when they got here—

One of Shino's hands move, shaking as they plucked off his glasses and set it down on the table. At first she didn't see what the problem was, but the realization rushed her as soon as she could comprehend that empty socket where tens of his kikaichu had taken residency in. Then there was a hand on either side of his face, tilting him closer to the light.

A pair of red irises stilled, wide and rattled.

"Who..." The words died on her tongue. It took her a few seconds to try and revive them. "... Who did this to you?"

...

"Orochimaru."

The name was like the crack of a whip on her fear.

Ever so gently her arms fell back to her sides as she turned to who'd said it. Sakura, as calm and confident as she'd always been, had spoken with the coldness she could always embody so well.

The old Kurenai would have recoiled in shock and demanded a recounting of the event before immediately reporting to the Hokage.

But now she sunk back down into her seat, troubled.

"Why did he go after you?" she questioned, and it was an honest one. The answer could be anything when it came from the raving madman she'd heard tale upon tale about, and there was another stretch of silence before she received her answer.

"We don't know," Kiba said. He looked at his sensei, but not _at_ her, and she knew it was a lie. But the hard line of Sakura's shoulders softened and Shino's hands stopped shaking, so she stayed quiet. It was one more question in a book that never seemed to end, and it was another mystery she wasn't sure she wanted to find the answer to.

Kurenai breathed in. Breathed out.

Then pushed forward with what she could help with rather than dawdling on something she couldn't.

She stood again. "When there are too many things to do and consider, it's always best to make a list. It keeps you organized, focused, and helps you prioritize." The junk drawer by the fridge held a few things she didn't already have a place for, but it had a pen she lost the cap to and a notepad whittled down to its last pages. She picked them up and turned. "It won't be much, but it's a start. What's the first thing we should write down?"

Relief flushed her veins when the air in the kitchen lightens into something more manageable as the smell of baking brownies slowly wafted in.

Kiba's arm shot up before one of his fingers pointed to his friend across the table. "We talked about gettin' him a new eye. Like, one of those glass ones. I know everyone can't tell what he looks like under his glasses, but there's still some that do." Akamaru barked, and he nodded vigorously. "Yeah! And it'd be hella cool ta' pop it out and scare someone!"

"An ocular prosthesis isn't a toy," Shino sighed, but he can't help but start to smile. "There are a few specialized clinics by the hospital and select individuals who work there that are quite adept at confidentiality. I'll set up an appointment later today."

"That you're totally gonna forget about."

Another sigh. "Shut up, Kiba."

Kurenai jotted it down.

 _1\. Glass_

"Next?"

"Find out more about Yakushi Kabuto." Sakura pressed her fingers to her lips as she stared her teacher, deep in consideration.

"The boy who quit?" Kurenai questioned. "Why does he need to be looked into?"

"Just a feeling," she shrugged. But her green eyes were so cold they were nearly frozen, so Kurenai tapped against the notepad twice before writing it down.

 _2\. Mole?_

"And training. For some of us," Kiba said, once more pointing at Shino. "'Cause if he doesn't kick the shit outta whoever then I'm gonna _flip_ —"

"Apologies, am I the one who allowed myself to be pepper-bombed in the face?"

"HEY! You know damn well I lost 'cause I picked 'lose' outta the hat an—mmph!"

Sakura barely blinked as she reached to the side to grab Kiba's hood and yanked it over his face. She gestured for her teacher to continue, and Kurenai accepted it gracefully.

"I know I've built a stressing training regime over the five or so months I've been teaching, especially after learning some... less than fortunate... details about circumstances and such. The upside is that I've passed down much of my expertise down onto you all. The downside, however, is that there are very little techniques I can teach in the short span of a month," she admitted. "I'll do my best, but I'm no miracle worker. Shino, I'd like for you to find a balance between training with me, keeping up with your medical sessions, and start a sort of mentorship with another jounin in the village. I have a few in mind, but unless there are any proposals...?"

At the other end of the table, Kiba had an iron grip around Sakura's waist in attempt to suplex her while she held his neck hostage in an arm lock. Shino scratched Akamaru behind the ears.

"Tenzo-san, perhaps?" he asked. The suggestion sent a surprised jolt through her, but nonetheless thought it was a fantastic idea. When she'd last met with Tenzo he'd still been reluctant to meet her kids, always citing something along the lines of being too caught up in his duties to spend time with them, or saying they wouldn't want to get to know someone as boring as him.

(She assured him that he could never be boring. If he was, how could he explain all the times he'd made her smile?)

But now they'd already met and wanted to learn from him? That's more than she could have ever hoped for!

 _Though, when did they get the chance to meet?_

"Tenzo-san is an exceptionally skilled shinobi. I'm sure he wouldn't mind teaching you, and eventually all of you once the exams are over," she said. There was a screech of wood and thud and Kiba was on the floor with his hands behind his back and a foot pinning down his shoulder.

"I would also consider Yamashiro Aoba," commented Sakura. "I met him when I first came to Konoha," she added in response to Kurenai's curious expression, "and he works in the Intelligence Division. I was planning on visiting him tomorrow."

"That's good. Very good, actually. I'll be sure to talk with him if he agrees." Sakura's resourcefulness never ceased to amaze, and she pondered the depth of how much she _didn't_ know about her students. "And just because you two didn't pass doesn't mean I want you to stop your training for the month." Kiba snatched the edge of the table and hefted himself up with a pout. "Sakura, about finding someone to help you in kenjutsu—"

"I have someone in mind. I'll let you know if it goes well," she interrupted politely.

"—then that's fine. Kiba, it turns out your old sensei, Umino Iruka, is actually quite skilled in fuuinjutsu. Would it be too much trouble to reconnect with him?"

Something odd passed over his face. Maybe it was warmth or familiarity, and he didn't frown or scrunch up his nose like he just passed a broken sewage pipe. He simply shook his head no, and Akamaru did too.

 _3\. Build_

Kurenai hovered over the next line of the paper. _Number 4_ , she wanted to write, _Orochimaru_. _What are we going to do about him? What are we going to do to keep protecting you? Will he come back? What's he doing here? Why do you all have to be involved?_ Her fingers tightened around the pen. _Why can't I keep you all safe?_

But she wrote nothing. Said nothing about it.

Instead, she moved a pile of folders from her living room to the kitchen table. Her team stopped their shoving to pour all their interest into the huge stack.

"I'd also like you all to engage in some mental practice and acquaint yourself with some of Konoha's politics."

"You want us to... review Konoha's past grievances?" Shino asked as he took the top folder and opened it to a catalog. The Founding of Konoha, the Election of Four Noble Houses, the Shinobi Wars, the Creation of the Council, the Hyuuga Affair, the Uchiha Massacre...

Kurenai nodded. "I want the three of you to analyze each of these events and list different outcomes or what you might think would have been the best outcome, if you don't agree with the decisions made thus far," she explained. "This expands your political awareness and your reasoning abilities: personal right versus public right. Inspect each one, come up with scenarios, and let me know if you think the decisions made have accurately reflected the best outcome."

Moral and metaphorical situations always charged the brain to think in ways it hasn't before. She was sure they'd been victim to one such situation, so the exercise had been tailored to put them on the opposite end for once.

It was a risk having them doing this here. Now. Research had always gotten them in trouble they couldn't claw themselves out of, but it would be research that could save them in the future. They needed to know the ins and outs of Konoha politics because if they didn't, they'd become an even bigger victim in the name of the "greater good". And maybe they already were, but that was an even greater reason for them to _know_.

"We'll come back together whenever you feel like you've done all you can and I'll see what you've found," she continued. "But for tonight, take a break. Sleep in." Her eyes drooped. "Please, please rest up. I know how tired—"

The oven timer rang and she swallowed her words.

She forced a smile onto her face, what she'd been saying all but forgotten. "Brownies, anyone?"

::

It wasn't until the sky started to ripple a creeping blackness over the village does a man with the visage of a kind, burly fisherman named _Kenta_ stepped out the front doors of a mildly popular inn. With a pack slung across his back and a water bottle dangling from his hip, he took his time lumbering towards the eastern gates. Hours ago he'd bumped into Inuzuka Tsume (unintentionally or not, he hadn't decided yet), thanked her for her and Kuromaru's company, and promised to keep a look out for them the next time work brought him back to the Leaf. And hours before that he'd taken one last look at his pup—her small smile, her bright hair, her green eyes that echoed with an unmistakable chill—and whispered one more goodbye.

He wouldn't be back for the finals. The precious time he spent here was reaching Leader's allowance point and he'd done all he could. Or, he'd done what he thought was best.

He sighed and grit his teeth. But what was best for who? Pup and her team almost died on his watch while Itachi's younger brother was saved from bearing a twisted seal.

"Leaving so soon?" a slick voice crooned. "I wouldn't think you'd go leaving little Pup-chan so... _vulnerable_."

Kisame could already feel a headache coming on. "Leader-sama giving me a month to do my business s'more than considerate. For him," he said. "And obviously somethin' fishy's goin' on here for her and the Inuzuka ta' throw their fights like that." A crinkle formed between his brow. "I don't like it, and of course I woulda stayed for them, but..." He turned and narrowed his eyes at the sannin leaning leisurely on a bench. No one was out and night had fully swamped the village. Konoha needed a desperate security upgrade, he thought, if two of the most notorious missing-nins could stand on the street in henge while the rest of the world spared no second thought. "You know somethin'. You always do. Pup's strong enough to fend for herself—"

"Ah, ah, ah," Orochimaru tutted as he waggled a finger in front of him. "The little darling might be far stronger than those other brats, but not stronger than everything. Everyone. Where would she be now if I didn't get her out of that sticky situation?"

Kisame bristled. " _Why_ —"

He stilled that waggling finger and pressed it to his lips. "You don't want to wake up the whole street, now do you?" A mocking smile slithered onto his lips when the other takes a deep, angry breath and stood down. Fathers. What could you do with them? "Don't be like that, Ki-kun. I haven't been so thoroughly intrigued in a very, very long time. It wouldn't be very kind of me to rid of them the moment you're no longer here."

"What do you want?" the 'fisherman' asked bluntly. Orochimaru crossed one leg over the other and leaned forward.

"The Uchiha boy. Unfortunate, isn't it?" he hissed. But it quickly turned into something more smug. "Fortunately, Pup-chan's making this a little more worthwhile." He splayed his fingers over his knee, all spindly and well-manicured. "She asked something of me."

"She wouldn't," Kisame replied instantly, ever the champion of his little girl.

"Ah yes, and you would know her so well from all the time you've spent raising her, correct?" Orochimaru hummed. The flinch he received sent a wave of satisfaction through his bones, putting him a little more at ease, a little more in control. "Well, they looked so utterly hopeless, all disheveled and bruised like little mice and I poked some fun at them. No harm done, not really. But after what Pup-can said to me..." He mimed a small explosion with his hands and mouthed a small _boom_. "She positively _shocked_ my expectations out the water. What sort of a kind soul would I be if I didn't listen?"

Kisame's retort rolled toward the peaks of his teeth— _what sort of soul would you be if you really did turn out kind?_ —but he held his tongue. He knew Orochimaru, so he knew his unhealthy interest in Team Eight would keep them alive. He never killed the impressive ones.

He sighed. "If you do anythin' to them, I'll fuckin' kill you," he promised softly. Orochimaru laughed and stood in one fluid motion.

"Me? Harm those little mice?" His tongue flickered out to graze against his upturned lips. " _Never_."

It was the best he'd ever get from that man, so Kisame started his walk back to the eastern gates without another word. A last glance behind him granted him the view of an empty bench and an even emptier street.

But as he neared the edge of Konoha's walls—Sakura's new life—he thought about the next time he'd get to see her. Months? Ideally. Years? Realistically. What would she look like grown up? How strong would she be? Would she pick up kenjutsu one day?

Would... she ever know he was always proud of her?

As the moon glistened overhead and the wood of the gates finally grew clear, the burn at the back of his eyes pushed harder.

Fathers.

He wondered what it would be like to have been a good one.

::

Aoba was in the middle of slipping on his blue uniform shirt when he heard three decisive knocks on his door. He recognized the pattern almost instantly (over the years he'd heard it, he'd be disappointed if he didn't) and tugged down the hem as he approached the door and pulled it open.

"Good morning, Sakura!" he greeted, stepping aside to let the girl in and nodding at her returned _Morning, Aoba-san_. "I haven't seen you since I congratulated you for your Academy graduation."

"Sorry I couldn't stop by sooner."

"That's alright, I remember how busy training and missions kept me as a genin," he grinned. He glanced at the clock above the doorway to his kitchen. "Ah, you caught me just in time. Last time you walked me to work was what, a year ago?"

Sakura smiled a bit and leaned against the wall, not a single hair falling out of place in her tight bun. "Then your coworkers laughed because it was like a parent dropping off their kid at the Academy."

Aoba blushed. Yeah, that happened too, didn't it?

"Let me just put on the rest of my uniform and we can head out," he said. "Feel free to take whatever you'd like out of the fridge or pantry or—you know the drill. I won't be a minute."

He headed back to his room to put on his flak jacket and wrapped bandages around his shins.

If Yamashiro Aoba could describe his relationship with Sakura in one word, it would be... simple.

Ever since he helped her get enrolled into the Academy five years ago, they'd acquired something like a casual friendship. At first it started out with Hokage-sama's suggestions to check up on her and see how well she was acclimatizing to her new life, so sometimes he'd stop by the Academy after class, walk with her to get some snack or something, then walk her back to the orphanage or the library or the park where she'd sit all by herself and read.

After a while Hokage-sama's suggestions stopped, but they still kept up an occasional meeting. Every few weeks or month or so he'd drop by to see how Sakura was doing, if she was holding up well. And over that time he'd learned quite a few things about her.

Like when Kiba got her anmitsu for her eighth birthday, she liked it so much that it became her favorite dessert. Or that when she was ten she'd gotten detention for skipping out on class, but not for the cracked chalkboard she and Kiba may or may not have accidentally thrown a chair into and that the teachers had blamed it on bad maintenance. Or, there was that time when she was eleven when she gave him a horribly familiar orange book and told him to give it back to its owner after she'd unintentionally picked it off some stranger.

" _How did you unintentionally pickpocket someone?!"_

" _Happens, I guess."_

Eventually she stopped waiting to see him and started visiting on her own time. If he hadn't shown up at the Academy in a while, she'd drop by on an off day and walk him to work or they'd pass by each other on the street and ultimately get lunch.

As the years passed, he watched her change. She grew more confident, more calculating, more guarded, more cold.

But in the end, she was still the little girl he found huddled in an abandoned warehouse.

So maybe Sakura was a strange kid. Unconventional at best, off-putting at worst, but they were still sort-of-friends that kept up with the news and talked about nothing in particular.

When Aoba emerged with his flak jacket fastened and red-rimmed glasses fit securely on his face, Sakura had an orange in one hand and the other on the door knob.

"You good?"

"Yup. Let me put on my sandals and then we can head out."

Out on the street as they made their way towards the Intelligence building, Sakura carefully began to peel the skin of her orange. "Aoba-san, how involved are you with the Chuunin Exams?"

He quirked a brow. "How involved?" he repeated.

"As in, are you currently in any position that bars you from interacting with participants outside the exams, such as a proctor or an organizer?" she clarified.

"No," Aoba answered slowly. There was a strict rule in place that any chuunin or jounin directly involved in running the exams couldn't train or give detail of their work to any genin participant as a precaution to cheating. "I thought you didn't make it past the preliminaries? Wh-Which I'm sorry about, by the way. I'm positive you did your best."

She waved a hand. "Thanks. I might not have passed, but Aburame Shino did. My teammate."

His mind whirred around the surname as he went over the first things that came to mind. Noble clan, insect colony hosts, leader Shibi, heir Shino.

"And you'd like me to—"

"Train him, if you could. You have an interesting skill set that I think compliments him well," she said, still wholly focused on her orange. "Just to help him along for the month before finals. It's fine if you can't."

"It's not that I'm busy—it's—I—why _me_?"

"Why not?"

They stopped a few steps from the door to their destination. Sakura finally looked up from the fruit in her hands, the orange not appearing quite peeled in the slightest, and stared blankly at his worried face.

"You don't have to make your decision now. Here." She handed him the orange. "My team and I are going to be at the Aquatic Center most of Friday. I'll hear your answer then?"

Aoba took the orange, looked at it, then at her, and smiled at those green eyes he, in all these years, still never learned how to read. "I'll be there. Take care of yourself, Sakura."

"Always," she said, almost offended he implied otherwise. But her lips twitched as she waved and found a way to disappear between the few people that milled about their business.

Aoba sighed almost fondly and turned the orange around in his hands. The thing really is mostly unpeeled, but both his brows shoot up at the intricate shape made from the rind she did pluck off.

 _Hoshi_. A star.

Really, what an odd kid.

::

Iruka stopped trying to juggle the heap of textbooks in his arms when he'd, by pure chance, turned his head a smidge to the right in the midst of his flailing and spied a small figure at a table among their own swamp of books. He saw the red triangles, then the gray jacket, and then the little white dog in the seat beside him.

"Inuzuka-san?"

All the textbooks crashed onto the floor, and he bit back a string of curses.

As he crouched to pick them all back up and maybe balance it like a decent shinobi, there was a nudge at his knee. The dog was there, a bit bigger than when he last saw him but not by too much, with one of the smaller texts in his jaw and his tail swishing side to side behind him. Iruka chuckled and took the book.

"Thank you, Akamaru-kun."

A good half of his books were picked up before he could reach for them. Iruka raised his head and Kiba was flashing one of his signature cheeky grins as he held the pile of texts like a trophy.

"You're kinda clumsy, huh, sensei?"

Iruka smiled and stood. "I have my moments. Hello again, Inuzuka-san." Kiba wrinkled his nose at being addressed as such, but said nothing. "What brings you to the library so early in the morning?"

"Akamaru an' I were just studyin'," he said. There was an open honesty in his wide eyes but, guiltily, Iruka found it hard to believe. Because Kiba studying? Those two words don't generally go in the same sentence unless the word ' _isn't_ ' stood between them. He frowned. Alright, maybe the assessment was a little harsh, but he had Kiba in his class for an entire six years and never once saw him willingly read through a book without Sakura having to shove his face in it.

So curiosity had the best of him.

"What kind of studying?" he asked. The boy brightened and jerked his head toward the table.

"Oh yeah! Kurenai-sensei said you were good at stuff like this. Can I ask you a question 'bout it?"

Iruka followed him, thoroughly intrigued. Once he was close enough to read the titles, he almost gaped at the advanced sealing guides and the biographies of both old and upcoming fuuinjutsu masters that laid in heaps around a long sheet of white butcher paper.

And on it were some of the most _ridiculous_ seals he'd ever seen.

Not ridiculous as in done in a joking manner or completely wrong, but ridiculous in the fact that this seal work is so complicated and—and well done that Iruka found himself eagerly tracing each mark of every locking sequence and marveling at the carefully planted trap doors and switches in every brush stroke.

"So when I was layering the 53-67-59 on top of the 29-17-23, I was wondering if I could place a different odd numbered seal on those two layers to line them up with an additional lock," Kiba said, pointing to the cluster near the edge of the paper. "I know all prime seals are odd seals and not all odds are primes, but I think if I can join them together at the best angle margins and if I spiral them out just right, I'll have an even numbered ratio that doesn't directly apply itself to the odd numbered seals so it doesn't lead to a collapsing effect, leaving me with a cool new seal that'll have everyone else take weeks tryna figure out how I even managed to _fold_ the layers."

Iruka almost dropped his books again as his jaw unhinged. Kiba didn't notice. Or if he did, he pretended otherwise.

"Like, I know Hamamoto Daisuke couldn't figure out the power distinction between illustrious and numbered seals seventy years ago, but why find out the difference when you can put 'em together, right?" He looked over his shoulder, eyes gleaming with excitement. "So whaddya think, sensei? Do you think the addition stage can work?"

Iruka could barely make his own mouth work after seeing such a beautifully entwined seal. He stared for a few, long moments as he digested everything his old student just told him. Well, if they were going to talk pre-Okabe era theory...

He set his pile of books down with a quiet thud. "Have you looked over the different facets for the 53-67-59 and the 29-17-23? If your original layout doesn't fit, you should make spares with the different facet pairings. Otherwise, I think you should finish inking, link the sequences, and try it out." Black eyes roved over the clean lines once more. "Um, what is this seal for? Exactly? It kinda looks like an inducement..."

"Yup. It's supposed ta' force a chakra point lock down. Shino helped me outline a typical human body's chakra points within the line distinctions so it actually activates when in contact with foreign chakra."

"Incredible," the chuunin whispered. "This—This is amazing, Inuzuka-san. It's some of the most brilliant seal work I've ever seen." Iruka finally managed to tear his eyes away to meet Kiba's suddenly bashful smile.

The guilt shot through him like multiple stabs to the chest.

Mere minutes ago he'd been downplaying Kiba's intelligence with the horrible misjudgement of the past five years. Because honestly, no one should have been able to come up with such a sophisticated array while being fresh out the Academy. Here, the boy had proved his critical thinking skills, comprehension, and overall intelligence to astounding levels.

And what did he think before all of this came to light? That this boy had been nothing but a troublemaker?

His gut clenched. For six whole years, Kiba had been put through detention after detention for poor course work and unverified absences. He'd thought of him nothing more than a slacker; a problem student. He even had such dismal grades that—

No, the grades shouldn't have mattered. His treatment of his students should have never fallen onto how well they were doing in his class.

He should've _helped_ him when he was falling behind.

But he didn't.

"Uh, sensei?"

Iruka snapped himself out of his trance at the sudden nervous tone and forced a smile onto his face. "Yes, Inuzuka-san?"

"Uh, I don't wanna be weird or anything, but, uh…" Kiba scratched the back of his head as Akamaru rammed into his shin. "Ow! Okay, okay, damn, uh… sensei." The elder nodded encouragingly. "Can you train me?

Iruka's brain stuttered to a screeching halt. "Tr-Train you?"

"Kurenai-sensei said you were really good at seals and I still got a lot to learn." Iruka's disbelieving gaze flickered to the masterpiece on the table to Kiba's downcast eyes. "I mean, I know you're really busy being an Academy teacher and stuff, so don't sweat it if you can't. Like for real." He suddenly shook his head and turns back to his seal. "Uh—forget what I said, sensei."

"Inuzu—"

"Nah, it's cool. I shouldn't've asked."

"Inu—"

"And like, I seri—"

" _Kiba_."

Kiba quickly shut his mouth and blinked up. "Yeah?"

"Starting next week, I'll be up in my office after 4 o'clock every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesdays and Fridays are a little harder since they're my grading days, but if I can find an opening I can let you know," Iruka said. He looked at the books still in Kiba's hands, then the ones he just set on the table. "Ah… but even though it's Tuesday, d-do you think you could help me bring these up?"

The boy absolutely lit up. "Yeah!"

A sharp _SHH!_ rang through the library and he quickly ducked into his shoulders as his grin turned sheepish. With one hand under his teacher's books, the other rolled his scratch paper into a neat coil. Akamaru bounded onto the table to stretch a rubber hand over it before nosing the rest of the books shut and pulling them together in a straight line.

Iruka watched, amazed, as Kiba pulled out a small scroll, unraveled it upside down over all his things, and curled his fingers in a single handed dog seal. The books disappeared as well as the stray brush and the stoppered inkwells, and Iruka glimpses a fresh set of lines when Akamaru re-rolls the scrolls and holds it between his teeth like a bone.

"Ready, sensei!" he exclaimed, albeit at a level far lower than he knows the genin was capable of.

They left the library in a flurry of Inuzuka's chatter and Akamaru's enthusiastic tail wags, but all Iruka could do was smile and think of one thing.

 _How could I have gone as far as to let down Kiba too?_

::

Kotetsu had to give himself credit. He didn't even scream.

Izumo, on the other hand, had been leaning his chair back on two legs when it happened, shrieked, and fell over in what must've been the funniest puddle of chuunin he'd seen all day.

But he didn't laugh. Because his heart was still pounding a mile a minute and he had to focus on not ripping the papers in his hands.

Plus it would've been _super_ uncool.

No-surname Sakura from Unlucky Eight appeared out of nowhere with her hands planted on their desk and a blank face Kotetsu was slowly starting to become familiar with since her team had caught his interest during the exams. Well, maybe his curiosity first came from their bizarre track record of bottom-of-the-barrel missions that he reviewed and stamped for clearance, but seriously, how could he not notice? When he signed them back into the village after those, they'd be caked in blood, sweat, and dirt and had expressions bleak and like it was carved in stone.

On about their fifth D-rank he read that they'd been assigned to dig graves for an incident that happened about a two hours journey southwest. Nine hours they'd spent with shovels in their hands until thirty-three neat, identical holes had been dug up for thirty-three neat, identical caskets.

A virulent strain that attacked weak immune systems ravaged a cluster of civilian towns before a team of Konoha medics had come to end it.

Thirty-three children had died because of that.

 _Why did a team of genin have to bury them?_

Kotetsu had expressed his disdain of their missions once to Izumo, about how karma must've hated them to the point that they were getting miserable mission after miserable mission, but he'd gotten waved off with a comment that he was paranoid and that everything was just a freakish coincidence, 'cause things like that tend to happen to shinobi.

And it did. So he tried to forget about it.

Until that ambush. Then the written exams. Then the Forest of Death.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pry off the discomfort that settled in his sternum after he burned away all their evidence of them being anything other than a typical genin team.

He worried and wondered and wallowed in his musings.

And he didn't tell Izumo.

"Good morning Hagane-san, Kamizuki-san," she greeted. "I hope I'm not bothering you."

He shrugged and offered up a wide smile. "Not even a bit, Sakura-san." At his side, Izumo righted his chair and dropped himself back down into it. "Guarding posts at the gate are mostly nothin' but _nothin'_." His partner snorted. "What brings you all the way out here? Need to get stamped to leave the village? Taking a walk just to listen to the birds?"

"I was looking for you, Hagane-san," she said. He blinked in surprise, and so did Izumo, but she ignored both their reactions. "Is there a time we could talk? I'll take ten minutes at most."

Kotetsu tilted his head as he looked at her, as in, _really_ looked at her. Her back wasn't straight enough to be tense or uptight, but her top half was pulled back enough to command a sort of quiet, grounded presence. It helped that her hair was so bright and that she was taller than most of her yearmates, but if she was so noticeable—

He paused. He hadn't noticed her or her team during his and Izumo's trick before the exams started, nor had he seen them in the crowds before they approached him for their seat numbers.

Huh.

He quickly swiveled to the side with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster. He didn't say anything, mostly because he didn't have to and he knew Izumo could only resist for about three seconds before he caved. Which he did.

"Fine," Izumo groaned. "Fine!" He pointed to his partner. "Six minutes. That's all you get." Then he pointed to Sakura who stared as his finger in faint amusement. "He can leave his post for six minutes. Any more than that I and _will_ kick his ass. Got it?"

Kotetsu sputtered and she crossed her arms. "Six minutes, Kamizuki-san," she agreed. "After you, Hagane-san."

He leapt over the desk without hesitation, much to Izumo's dismay, and sent a cheeky smile over his shoulder as he lead the genin over to a nearby vending machine. She followed with silent steps and only started to speak once Izumo was completely out of ear shot.

"I heard you're adept at fighting with weapons," she said. "Things like bo staffs, maces."

"Sure, I've got my specialties," he replied. Kotetsu flipped open one of the pockets of his flak jacket and dug around for a few coins. "What kind are you interested in, kid?"

"Kusari-fundo and swords of the o-wakizashi and katana variation—maybe the odachi too, if it isn't too much trouble. The former is a recent pursuit, the latter I've been wanting to get past the basics."

He nodded along as he counted the jumble in his hands. "That's fair. So you need me to look for a sensei for you? I know a couple good jounin that'll be willing to help you out." A few ryo short, that sucked, but the waters were cheaper than the coffees, so maybe he could do those instead. But his face must've said enough when a couple more coins are dropped into his hands. "Huh. Thanks."

"Hm," Sakura replied. "But I'm not looking for another jounin sensei. I approached you, so I'm asking you."

"Right," he said. Kotetsu started to push each coin into the machine slot, and the third one misses its mark completely once he digested her words. A smaller hand caught the fallen coin between two fingers and placed it back in his palm. "You want me to teach you? A chuunin? Uh, hate to break it to you, kid, but I'm pretty sure you got way better options out there."

"I did look at the other options. I chose you."

Pretending to be more focused on pressing the rest of the ryo into the machine, he let his mind wander. She wanted him as a teacher? No way. He was good at exactly three things: making people laugh, being with Izumo, and doing what he was told—nothing in that list mentioned teaching a genin that was definitely more intimidating than she let on and was absolutely going to be taller than him in a few months.

"Three minutes and thirty seven seconds until Kamizuki-san wants you back at your post," she said.

"You're _counting_?"

"If you're not, I suppose you're lucky that I am."

He almost shook his head as three drinks plopped down to the bottom of the vending machine. The canned coffees were warm to the touch and he tosses one to Sakura, who caught it without looking away from him.

He frowned. "You sure I'm your best bet?"

"I wouldn't be asking otherwise, Hagane-san."

When he looked at her, he saw the grave-digging mission. The dirt that smeared her hair brown. The blood she spat out on a particularly rough mission where she took the hit for a civilian too rooted in fear to move out the way. The limp the Inuzuka got after chasing a drug-dealer sixty-five kilometers across the country. The broken collarbone the Aburame suffered from a gang leader with a crowbar.

Maybe he hadn't seen all of those times, but he read about them. He'd read every single one of Unlucky Eight's mission reports.

And he didn't want to be one those people that saw something wrong and ignored it.

"... Okay," he agreed. "I'll teach you." He jabbed a finger her way. "But if I do a shitty job, you totally asked for it."

He was almost sure she wanted to laugh at that, but she spared a passing glance at the finger before meeting his eyes.

"Don't worry too much about it," Sakura said. Her lips finally quirked up, but the reason sent him flying back towards his post. "Thirty-six seconds. Is Kamizuki-san scary when he's mad?"

::

Sakura was walking towards one of Konoha's outer training grounds by the time the sun sat low in the sky. A few of Shino's kikaichu nestled themselves in the collar of her shirt (as a precaution, he said, because the best time for anyone to strike was during one of their questionable errands) and there was no point in arguing that. He and Kiba were back at her apartment making dinner and would probably stay another night before heading back to their homes in the morning. Shino wanted more time to adjust to his prosthetic and Kiba wanted to sleep one more night without his mom breathing down his neck and having to ignore his sister's worried glances.

She didn't mind.

A swarm of birds cried overhead and she stopped in her tracks.

Hostility slammed into every square inch of her skin, thickening the air until it curdled and wrapping around her throat tighter and tighter with every breath.

Eyes wild, she rushed up into the treeline and towards the source.

 _What was that?_

All she wanted to do was follow up on the tip that another one of the sannin had come back to the village—Jiraiya, the Toad Sage. Having two of the three sannin in the same village at the same time can't be another coincidence, she knows, because they'd all split off years ago more than likely prompted by Orochimaru's defection. But if he'd known about Orochimaru returning, how did he come about the information?

Sakura stopped on a branch overlooking the clearing where she'd felt the strongest negative pull.

Jiraiya was there.

Both his hands were up in a placating manner as he tried to calm down the mass of orange chakra that oozed malevolence in front of him. The more she stared, the more she could make out the blue sandals, the red swirl, the blonde hair spiked longer with thrumming chakra.

So, is this what the jinchuuriki can be capable of?

Before she could turn back towards the village, before she could move a hair's width to the side, before she could even think of the direction to move her body—

Two red eyes were centimeters away.

And her shirt dampened with blood.


	31. The Calm Who Would Learn the Storm

Shino received three signs from his insects—injury; bleeding; non-lethal—that prompted him to step away from the stove to pull down the first aid kit Sakura kept above the fridge. Kiba stopped snapping apart long beans at the table.

"Uh... what're you doin'?" Kiba questioned slowly. He didn't want to panic since Shino wasn't panicking, but Sakura left an hour ago to scout for that sannin dude and said she'd be back when dinner was ready.

They were barely starting to make dinner _now_.

"The kikaichu planted on Sakura reported an incident."

"God- _fucking-dammit_."

Screw the beans. He shoved them all, snapped or not, back into one bowl and practically tossed them onto the window sill. Along the way he shut off the stove, capped by pot, and cleared the meat out the sink as Shino popped open the kit and set up everything he'd probably need: clean gauze, tweezers...

Akamaru barked, and his partner translated. "How bad?"

"No word, but I would prepare for the worst. Why? Because why would we dubbed 'Unlucky Eight' if we ever assume otherwise?"

He sounded bitter. Kiba didn't blame him.

With the flick of a wrist, the silencer seals fully activated and rippled a faint blue hue through the entirety of the apartment. Kiba shut the blinds on all the windows, Akamaru tugged the curtains closed, and Shino absentmindedly made a note to fill his wardrobe with more 3/4 sleeved shirts as he scrubbed his hands clean in the sink. They were less likely to get the ends stained in blood.

Finally, _finally_ , nearly two minutes since the announcement, the front door opened and closed with a quiet click. There wasn't the sound of footsteps—there never were—and Sakura stepped into the kitchen.

Akamaru howled and Kiba's knee smashed into the table when his shock sent him scrambling to stand. " _What the FUCK?!_ "

The first thing they noticed was the blood.

The next were the four enormous claw marks that spanned from her shoulder to her neck to just catching up to the right edge of her jaw line, red and weeping and burnt. She winced slightly as she lowered herself into one of the seats and leaned back on her good side.

"Hey," she rasped. Shino was already at her chair with his glasses pushed up on his nose and his eye critically surveying the damage. He grimaced, his vision blurred for a split second, and a part of him wanted to scream. "M'I too early for dinner?"

"The part of your shirt that isn't mangled has _melted into your wounds_. What does this mean for you?" He reached for the tweezers, rolling it around in his hand reluctantly before gently pulling at her right arm so the tears gaped and glistened under the cheap apartment lighting. Sakura exhaled shakily. "I—I will need to take every piece out before I begin the healing process. It will hurt and I will more than likely cause more damage before I can fix it." The creases in his hands stained red. "I have anesthesia in my kit that may numb—"

"No drugs," she interrupted. "Just start."

"That is _highly_ inadvisable—"

"And m'not taking any drugs. I need somethin' t'bite."

Kiba hesitated, his stare held hostage by torn flesh and pink muscle singed at the edges, before he yanked a dish towel from the oven and twisted it until his knuckles turned white. It was coarse under his fingers as he made sure it was between her teeth before he tied it around her neck. He bet it tasted of dulled soap and last week's vegetables, but he saw the beads of sweat start to form at her hairline the same moment his shirt started to stick to his back. He knew that soon the last thing she was gonna care about was how the feel of threadbare cotton didn't agree with her fucking _palate_.

His gaze unwittingly draw back to the cuts—no... no, they weren't cuts. Sakura had been torn four times over, skin shredded and hanging with blue-black fabric fused into every part. He shoved down the urge to heave when Shino started to peel off the first piece.

Her neck flared and her jaw protruded at the force of her clenching teeth.

It felt like years before the first piece was off. It took nineteen seconds.

There were more than thirty bits left.

Kiba didn't know how long he stood there as the room got stuffier and hotter and he was twitching every time a shirt scrap was pulled free, but by the sixth piece Sakura's hand latched onto his forearm and her nails dug so far in that a steady rivulet of _his_ blood dripped on the floor. He didn't notice it. Didn't feel it—couldn't feel it when all there was in that moment was the prickling sensation at the back of his neck that was just a second away from making him go mad.

By the twenty-fourth piece, Shino's hand began to shake. He was slower to catch the edges of the fabric slivers, paused in the middle of extractions until his convulsions calmed to trembles and hurried to pull them out before they came back again. His glasses had been knocked back somewhere behind his chair with how many times he'd wiped his face and ran a hand through his hair, mixing it red. Sakura slumped further into his chair and her eyes drooped. Heavy rivers of sweat poured down her face. She didn't let go of Kiba's arm.

Four hours, forty-one pieces in, Shino stopped.

"Do the rest," he murmured. Kiba jolted out his trance.

"What?"

"Do the... take... take the rest of the burnt pieces... I—I can't..."

"Dude, you're al-almost done. See? There's like—like five pieces left. You can't stop!" he exclaimed. "You can't..." Sakura's grip slackened an hour ago when her head dropped into her chest. But she was still breathing. That was fine. It was fine. Why wouldn't that be fine? "She's knocked out an' she won't feel—"

"I _can't_."

" _Yes_! Yes you _damn well_ —"

"I _CAN'T_!" Shino exploded, propelling to his feet. The tremors crawled up to his arms and to his torso and the tweezers clattered on the table in a splatter of blood. Something caught in Kiba's throat at the dizzying gleam of desperation in his friend's eye. "EVERYTHING BLURS AND IT'S WRONG AND I CAN'T PICK OUT THE DAMN PIECES AND I CAN'T! I CAN'T SEE! I CAN'T DO IT!" He stumbled back until he hit the fridge, one hand buried in his hair and the other over his empty socket. His breath came out in uneven puffs and his outburst left his teammate frozen, and eventually, everything siphoned out of him and he slid down onto the floor. "Please," he mumbled. "I can't."

Kiba didn't know what was worse: the Shino back in the Forest of Death, lost and who'd forgotten the world—or the Shino suffocating it.

Then he realized it wasn't a choice at all.

Because watching Shino get eaten away from everything he'd lost broke his heart the same way seeing a screaming, tortured Sakura did.

"Okay." Kiba swallowed, his mouth dry. "... Okay."

The metal gleamed on the table, dripping and stained and the scent of blood so thoroughly filled his senses his brain was practically buzzing in it. He wanted to tell Shino he'd be alright, he wanted to bring Sakura to the hospital, he wanted to climb to the rooftops and howl until he sicked up his lungs.

The secrets, the lies, the fact they'd had to look over their shoulder every waking minute—

Kiba pushed down the hiccup climbing up his throat and looked at the table. The blood dripped. The room stilled. He was so _tired_.

This shouldn't have happened to anyone.

This shouldn't have happened to them.

But he'd be strong for them. He had to.

 _Someone had to._

He grabbed the tweezers and set to work.

Along the way, Shino had tried to heal the parts of the wounds without the melted shirt stuck to them when he realized the work would take longer than he first anticipated. So about half-way in, he started to heal the spots he worked on before moving on to the next.

 _Four left._

He also mentioned something about how unwilling the skin acted as it refused to knit back together in the neatest way possible. Some nerves were dead and third-degree burns were the type to do the most damage. She'd have the scars for the rest of her life.

 _Three left._

Chakra burn was the diagnosis. Unadulterated, uncontained chakra that ripped through her.

 _Two left._

Kiba bit his lip. Didn't Sakura once say that the jinchuuriki had some sort of pure chakra form?

 _One more._

He pulled the very last burnt piece out her wounds, watching the slow unstick of cloth and skin layer that ran too far deep and was meant to stay unseen.

The microwave clock flashed behind him. 10:47 pm.

Gauze unrolled in his deft hands and he pressed most of it in the pink remains of Sakura's shoulder. She didn't stir. Neither did Shino.

When he was sure she wouldn't bleed out the rest of the night, he fell down into the chair on the opposite end of the table.

The beans sat on the window sill and the pot had gone cold on the stove. The uncooked meat, he remembered, had seran wrap looped around it and was back in the fridge where it would be good for a couple more days before they'd have to freeze it again.

The table was half caked in red smears, the tweezers were somewhere on the floor, and the first aid kid was opened and a mess and he didn't think he could put it away until morning. Would they have to restock on gauze? Maybe. He'd put it on the list next to the paper towels they'd run out of yesterday and the toilet paper that was going on sale at the end of the week.

Sakura must've been uncomfortable in that chair, but he didn't have the strength to move her. Shino hunched on the floor with his head in his hands and his forearms on his knees, and he'd get a cold if he stayed like that. He should at least wear his coat or get tucked in a blanket from down the hall. And Sakura should have one too.

But Kiba did neither.

He sat in his seat, fingers red and forearm littered with scabbed-over crescent marks.

Tears pricked the corner of his eyes.

"We're fucked," he whispered. "We're so, so, _so_ fucked."

And for the first time in a while, surrounded by his pack broken by circumstance, he really believed it.

...

The next morning Sakura woke up to cotton in her mouth and an entire side numbed in pain. Her left hand came up (there was blood under her fingernails, where did she get those—) and undid the knot at the base of her scalp. She coughed as she took the towel off her tongue and could feel the mild friction burns on both her cheeks the minute it met cool air.

She reached for the bottle of rubbing alcohol and one of the few cotton wads left. As she unscrewed the cap, she noticed one body curled against the fridge and another slumped at the table across from her. Her hand hovered just over her cheek when she took in how clean everything was. Not a trace of blood or burnt shirt scraps, and the tweezers she was sure Shino used last night was back in the first aid kit, cleaned and dry. Lifting the rubbing alcohol, she saw it nearly empty and her head swiveled to the side before meeting the floor.

Akamaru held his tail between his legs as he pulled one of the saddest faces she'd ever seen. She set the cotton back down and lowered her hand, his nose cold and wet as he whined and snuffled against her hand.

"Sorry," she said, her voice sandpaper against her throat. "Did you clean up?" He nodded and she used nearly half her strength to pull him up on her lap. He was careful not to jostle any of her wounds and buries his face in her chest. She spied the dried blood on his snout and paws. "Thank you."

Akamaru whined again as the front door opened. Sakura sat up, almost ignoring the screeching, dizzying protest of her gauze-stuffed wounds, but she was stopped by a dog trying vainly to both gently _and_ fully push her back into her seat.

"What did you do?" she hissed. He barked and kept pushing.

"Akamaru?" a familiar voice floated in. The door took too long to shut for only one person to come in, so there was someone else. It always had to be someone else. "Why did you lea..."

Sakura drew in a deep breath and slowly shifted around in her seat to greet her visitors. Kurenai stood in the doorway with her hands on her mouth and her sharp eyes flickering to the boys and the kit and then back to the two gashes that hadn't been covered in gauze, flaming and crisp.

At her back, Tenzo didn't say a word.

She knew how she must've looked to them—greasy, unkempt hair, doused in the stench of sweat and burnt blood, crust in her eyes, a weakness in her like she'd actually taken the anesthesia she'd blatantly refused—and picked up a flimsy hand.

"Hey."

::

Kurenai paced the kitchen with curt steps and a finger tapping her chin and her other hand grasping her bicep. Tenzo quietly fixed up the first aid kit and rolled up the leftover gauze, dark eyes watching carefully from beneath his lashes. The table had been pushed against the fridge and all three of her kids were settled in a line on those terrible plastic chairs where she could see each and everyone one of them. Maybe it was too reminiscent of an interrogation and it implied they'd done something wrong, but she couldn't let this one go. Not after seeing what she'd walked into.

They looked _terrible_.

Sakura's wounds were dressed and freshly treated thanks to Tenzo's experience and Shino's presumed last night's healing, and her shirt had been change to a loose brown one they'd found slung across the desk chair in her room.

Next to her was Kiba, dark bags stark beneath his eyes and his tear tracks had been scrubbed until there was barely a trace. Akamaru curled into his stomach, still as a statue.

The last in the row, Shino sat with his hands balled in his lap and his coat thrown over his shoulders. His glasses sat loosely on the bridge of his nose.

They all still had blood on their hands.

None of them were looking at her.

"You know I won't be upset with you," Kurenai started with, because she needed to put them at ease if she wanted to hear a truth out of them. Maybe not _the_ truth, but one of them. "Start from the beginning. What happened yesterday?"

They sat in an almost considering silence, and Tenzo cleared his throat. "I know this is a team situation, so I'll let you be—"

"You should stay," Shino intoned softly. He stared at his fists and the slight tremors that worked up his wrist to his palms and his fingers; proximal phalanx, middle phalanx, distal phalanx. "Why? With everything you've seen, do you supposed it would be better for you to be a part of this now? Instead of receiving your secondhand information at a later date."

Tenzo nearly shrunk in on himself at the intense glare Kurenai directed his way. But, nonetheless, he sighed. And stayed.

He would have a lot to explain later.

A painful minute of silence passed before Sakura spoke, her head turned towards the chipped wallpaper. Kiba's seals were up and blue. "I heard rumors about Jiraiya-san in the village and I'd gotten curious if he was here to deal with his old teammate," she said. Tenzo's eyes snapped up and Kurenai grimaced. "Some said he was at the bath houses, some said the bars. He wasn't at either. I ended up going to the larger training fields outside the village and found him with Naruto."

She paused delicately.

"Naruto wasn't much of himself, and had an accident." She gestured toward the bandages. "An accident which I had unfortunately become a part of." She shrugged, though it was odd when only one shoulder made the movement. "What matters is that Jiraiya-san didn't get a good look at me."

"You're sure?" Tenzo asked.

"He was too busy trying to calm Naruto to get a good look; he knew someone was there, but he wouldn't have known it was me." She sighed. "Unless Naruto told him. I don't know a jinchuuriki's memory retention when under the influence of their beast, but rage-induced transformations tend to leave them disoriented at least a few hours after returning to normal."

The ANBU operative was nearly knocked over at the swamp of her knowledge, especially with information he was sure even the Hokage wasn't aware of. How did she know about the Kyuubi? About Tailed Beast _influences_ on their hosts?

But these were the same kids who'd found Orochimaru's old lab. Dug it out, found out all its secrets.

Remembered those forgotten.

 _Remembered his name._

He drew in a silent breath. An injustice forced them to pay an unfair price and etched their names in Konoha's blacklist known only to Hiruzen and Danzo. At first he'd been appalled at the level of severity that beat them down because, honestly? These were green-nosed genin entered as rookies into the Chuunin Exams where only one had passed the preliminaries. They were... average, to say the very least.

 _But average shinobi don't call for the justice their village refused to give,_ something in him protested. _Average shinobi would have never intimidated the Hokage so thoroughly that he willingly worked with Danzo to try to kill them._

Tenzo folded his arms.

He already chose his side the night he went to the river and watched those lanterns float home.

He wasn't about to question them now.

Shino finally raised his head, but turned to Sakura. "Your... injuries will scar. I apologize for not being able to do more."

"Scars don't bother me," she replied simply. His eye unwittingly wandered to her torn ear. "You did your best under the circumstances."

His face screwed up. No, he didn't. He broke down and lost his mind during a crucial moment of her healing like some Academy student on their first day of classes. It was unacceptable. "I—"

"You did your best," she repeated. Sakura glanced at the troubled wrinkle between his brows and quirked a minuscule, reassuring smile. It eased him enough for him to relax back in his seat, though his fingers still shivered slightly in an invisible cold.

Kiba slumped to his left against Shino's side with his eyes half-closed and his arms tucked tightly over his chest.

The shivers dissolved to a twitch every now and again.

Sakura's smile grew that much wider.

Kurenai silently ran everything she could through her head. Her and Tenzo were certainly going to have _words_ later, but for now, she cataloged every detail thus far.

Sakura had been attacked by Uzumaki Naruto, or more specifically, the Kyuubi, yet held no ill towards him nor the incident. One good thing to come out of it was the new insight to the girl's character: humble to her comrades even in the wake of their mistakes and appreciative to their efforts regardless of the outcome.

She was kind, but her coldness was unwavering.

Honest to all, loyal to so few.

Kiba, strangely, hadn't said a single word the whole time. The boy was usually bright with energy (either with seething anger or demanding enthusiasm) but had fatigue etched into every muscle he used to keep himself from falling asleep.

Something else happened last night that they were refusing to tell, but there were no walls like after the first section of the Chuunin Exams. Another accident? Another mistake?

And Shino...

Kurenai withheld a sigh and massaged her forehead. There was a lot there from the trauma of losing an eye to the fact that _Orochimaru_ had assaulted him in the middle of Konoha.

This time, she did sigh.

"So your accident," she backtracked. "What's your cover?"

"Thought I'd lost something in the Forest of Death during the exams, so I went back to look for it," Sakura said. The lie flowed so smoothly off her tongue that even Tenzo was inclined to believe her after all she'd already said. "Shame I didn't listen to my sensei about not going back, and now I've learned my lesson."

Kurenai's teeth worried her bottom lip. It was a vague enough lie that no one would question it, and even then the occasional comrade or passerby wouldn't bring up its origin. "If it works, then it's fine. But with everything that's happened... what will you do now?"

"We'll get by." Kiba's eyes closed fully as he buried his face in his jacket, Shino flinched when a particularly violent tremor wracked his body, and Sakura calmly carried on—their leading voice, their pillar. "We always do."

And Kurenai's heart started to hurt, because what was going to happen when they didn't? When everything blew up once and for all because everything became too much?

What would happen at the end of it all?

And, if her kids didn't stop now, would they even be alive to see it?

::

It was three days after the Chuunin Exam preliminaries before he got the chance to see his son again.

Before, he'd imagined this moment as Shino walking through the door as quietly and stoic as he always did, but this time a slight bounce in his step as he announced his ascension into the final match ups. Then he'd tell his son how proud he was, maybe take him out for a celebratory dinner, and they would both spend the rest of the day with a soft hope in their hearts that filled their peaceful days.

But Shibi learnt of his son's part in the Chuunin Exam finals from a letter delivered by a village messenger with an official notice of participation.

On Monday, he waited all night for his son to come home. No one did.

On Tuesday, he kept himself busy around the house by tidying up and inventorying his kikaichu. For a few hours, he stepped out to check up on the other members of the clan. He returned to the sound of faint buzzing that accompanied the otherwise empty house.

Wednesday, his kikai crawled under his skin as they hummed with his confused worry. He _knew_ his son would be at Sakura's house as that had been his refuge these past months, but he also _knew_ Shino understood how important these exams were to the clan and his position within it.

He was selfish in wanting to blame that team. He wanted it to be their fault that Shino had become so tired and secretive and so, so far away. He wanted to go up to that Inuzuka and that surname-less girl and demand they bring him back his son—bring him _home_.

But he also wanted them to stay by his side, because never once had that very same son defended others so fervently as he did those two. He loved his team, and it seemed despite everything they loved him back just as much.

Shibi sighed.

Shino would be back soon. So Wednesday, he lent one eye to the door and the other to the papers he had to go through by the end of the week.

Nobody came.

Then Thursday rose with the sun and Shino stepped through the door just as the birds began to wake.

Shibi didn't care to hide his worry as he met the boy at the threshold and instantly planted a hand on his hair. A thousand things rushed to the tip of his tongue and a million emotions filtered behind his blank face and he wanted to know: where have you been, what have you been up to, how were the exams, _why don't you spend time at home anymore, what have I done, when had we grown so distant, you're all I have left what can I do—_

He looked down at his son's bowed head. "Congratulations," he said. "You've done well."

"... Thank you, Father."

From then on, their conversation was noticeably... stilted.

"Were the exams difficult to pass?"

"Not so."

"And your opponent in the preliminaries. There are a few details that have come my way, but I did hear that your victory was quite secured."

"It... was."

"What sorts of tactics had you employed?"

"A... stringent kind."

"Stringent?"

"Mm."

Shino sat at the dinner table, straight-backed and hands poised in his lap. Not once had he looked up like his eyes were a dead weight to him, refusing to aid the strain on his neck for bending it down at such an angle.

Shibi exhaled through his nose. "Lift your head when you speak, please."

His son tensed as if caught, and he didn't think calling out a cowed head would mean any more than a parent simply reprimanding their child. But Shino complied, slowly, until his glasses were fully visible.

And that was what made the clan head pause.

Everyone born into the clan wore dark glasses. It had always been more a necessity rather than a choice since the colonies that inhabited their bodies tended to thrive in dark, damp places. The less light that came in contact with them as hosts, the healthier their colonies grew for battle.

Living in the clan as long as he did, Shibi learned to see past the dark lenses and into the eyes of his family.

His son was no exception.

"Take off your glasses."

He did.

Shino met his father's gaze—eyes to _eye_ —and turned before he could see the slowly unfurling horror in the man's face. "There is a reason one must sign a waiver before entering the Forest of Death." The thumb on his right hand twitched, and his left hand slapped over it to still the movement. "It has been taken care of. There is an ocular prosthesis I utilize."

"Shino...?"

But Shino shoved his chair back and stood, glasses back on his face and his hands tucked close. "Excuse me," he murmured. "I have training at the hospital in an hour and I need to get ready."

Shibi was left at the table, alone and bewildered with a growing ache in his heart. He didn't know what caused the change in his son, why now he preferred the company of his teammates over his clan or why he now confided in them. The boy he knew was not the boy that tried to hide a _missing eye_ , and it was almost as if his succession of clan heir to newly social genin to slowly growing recluse to outsider was almost too quick for him to comprehend.

And when Shino descended the stairs with a pack over his shoulder, his heart sunk further because it might as well be another week or two before he'd see his son again.

As his hand touched the door knob, Shibi stopped him. Like clockwork.

"Wait."

"... Yes, Father?"

"I love you, Shino. You know that, right?"

Shino was quiet for a moment before he opened the door. "I love you, too." A watery warble hid in the deep reaches of his tone, just far enough to pass as nothing. But Shibi knew better. And even quieter, he whispered, "I will be back in time for the next clan meeting."

And he was gone.

::

"That's the fifth time in thirty minutes that you've held your shoulder. Do you require medical assistance?"

Kisame grimaced and dropped his arm from his left shoulder blade. Right. He'd almost forgotten how annoying his partner's attention to detail was. But the mark burned and the skin beneath it crawled and he wanted nothing more than to shred it off with his own sword.

"It ain't nothin'. Don't worry 'bout it."

"Konoha wasn't as kind as you expected?"

"Heh. They're kind 'nough to let a rogue wander 'round without noticin'. Really need ta' up their security. It's kinda ridiculous," he huffed. His fingers itched to dig his nails back into his shoulder, but he relented. Out of spite at this point, really. "Were they that bad when you were still 'round?"

Itachi tipped his head. "Perhaps." In the small stopover they met up in on the border between Fire and Hot Spring, he lifted a warm cup of tea to his lips. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

The edges of Kisame's lips quirked for the briefest of seconds before his brows drew together as he twirled a dango stick. "Yeah. Then I found a lot I wasn't." There it was again. The itch. He really needed to find someone to seal it up. Maybe Konan. "Your brother—Sasuke, right?" His partner immediately perked up. "Keep an eye on 'im. Orochimaru's got his sights set."

"Did he—"

"He's fine." The itch became too much, and his hand clasped his shoulder for a sixth time. "C'mon. We gotta do that mission 'else Leader-sama'll throw a fit."

Itachi's hand stretched forward. "Kisame-san—"

"Lots of ground ta' cover before nightfall. Wanna stop by that bookshop an hour out? It's been a while."

He was already off the bench and headed back towards the road, Samehada heavily bandaged across the back. The Uchiha almost sighed at the hopeless conversation and quickly followed, leaving a tip beside his still steaming half cup of tea.

::

 _The Reign of the Nidaime Hokage: Senju Tobirama's Imprint on the Will of Fire_ was braced against Kiba's desk when the door kicked open and his sister burst into the room.

"Yo, nerd!"

Unknown to her, he stuck seals under the floorboards in the hallway. The second her chakra signature ran over one of the affected wood planks, the messenger seal hidden on the inside of his shirt would flare. But, he acted surprised anyways and scowled as he shoved a bookmark between the pages.

"What?"

"Whattya' mean _what_? You come home and I can't visit my baby bitch of a brother to see how he is?" Hana puffed. She turned to his bed and, subsequently, the heap of clothes and open pack thrown onto it. "Mission?"

"Nah."

"You leavin'? Again?"

"Yeah. Sakura's."

"You're _always_ at Sakura's."

"You gotta problem with that?"

Akamaru growled from his spot on the floor before nosing back to the book he decided to read. Hana almost barked back an insult because _no, she_ _wasn't gonna mind her own business_ , but was veered by the tall stack of books beside the desk.

That was when she remembered her brother had been reading before she came in to bother him, which definitely weirded her out more than it needed to.

"I didn't know you could read."

Kiba groaned and spun around in his seat until his back faced her. The action allowed her grin to falter and her mind to whir. She wasn't blind—everything her and her mom saw about the youngest member of the pack had them more than worried.

Sakura was a great influence on him, always had been, but he was never around anymore and neither was she (and yeah, even if she was colder than cold, her sense of humor was pretty cool). And as much as he'd talked about Shino and how much both he and Sakura got along with him, he'd never been brought over. In fact, Kiba never talked about his missions or what he's done or anything anymore.

He was more than annoying and a pain in her ass most of the time, but he was a pain in the ass she was willing to deal with. She sauntered over and snatched the book from his hands and peered at the cover.

"Since when are you interested in history?"

"Since when do you care?" he parroted. He snatched the book right back and set it down on his desk. Behind him, his clock blinked 3:12 pm. "Look, I gotta drop my stuff off at Sakura's and I'm gonna meet Iruka-sensei at his office. You need somethin' or what?"

He knelt down to the sheaf of books and slapped something on top. A small seal on decent paper lit up and shrouded the stack in a soft light before a scroll was in the spot where the stack used to be. Hana was offhandedly curious of the seal's maker or whatever shop provided it. It was one of those higher end seals, and she didn't think he'd spend much money on stuff like that.

And as he proceeded to shove all his clothes and scroll into the bag, she spied three other scrolls stuffed along with them.

"Nothin'," she shrugged, pulling her attention away from the scrolls. "Just... stop by more often. Mom worries." _And she did too, sometimes._

But he threw up a grin she was so used to and it tempted her to forget everything that happened. He rushed past her with that book in his hands and Akamaru following close by and she was left on her own. The Haimaru were downstairs waiting and probably sending Kiba off with a few barks of goodbye, and as the front door opens and shuts she glanced at the open closet.

Every time she looked, it was always emptier than the last time.

Outside, Kiba tried to read the last few pages of his book so he could move onto the next one.

 _While his brother, the esteemed First Hokage Senju Hashirama, built up the foundation of Konohagakure, Tobirama-sama can be attributed to creating many institutions that built upon what was first started. The Shinobi Academy, ANBU, and the Chuunin Exams are some though not all of his contributions to this village._

 _Though the Uchiha and the Senju had fought against one another before this time of peace, Tobirama-sama created the Konoha Military Police Force for the Uchiha to run as a sign of trust to let bygones be bygones._

 _This judicial organization operated fully on the Uchiha Compound, including both the Headquarters and the prison system._

"A prison in a clan compound?" Kiba muttered. He peeled a sticky note and stuck it on the page. "That... shouldn't have been allowed."

::

Sakura knocked on her neighbor's door.

No one answered.

She tilted her head consideringly, eyeing the door for a few moments before treading down the stairs. Just a minute after her departure, that olive green door cracked open and Naruto peered out. He squinted left, then right, and once he deemed it safe he jetted out and towards the street.

Beneath the steel, elevated walkway of that floor, Sakura hung upside down, out of sight, and watched that blond head of hair bob towards the outer training grounds.

She frowned.

That was an odd issue she didn't think she'd have to deal with. Naruto had never tried to avoid her before—maybe he thought she was someone else?

She hummed. She'd save it for another time. The pool of chakra to her feet halted and she dropped down onto the dirt below.

Kotetsu told her he'd be waiting at a food stall at four.

Though it didn't escape her notice that he didn't mention which one.

::

Kotetsu munched on his taiyaki as he lounged between two busy food stalls in the middle of the village. He took care not to mention where exactly he'd be when he mentioned to Sakura that he'd be waiting for her. The Chuunin Exams showed her and her team as more than capable, in the second exam especially, even if the results of the preliminaries threw him in for a loop.

They were smart, but he didn't know just _how_ smart they could get. Those written questions weren't meant for genin to answer flawlessly, and after a bit of digging through Academy records, their academic standings stood at 8th for Shino, 11th for Sakura, and 27th for Kiba out of 31 students.

 _Nose in a book, eyes off the board,_ was one of the notes scribbled in the margins of Sakura's file. That, and one of the worst attendance records he'd ever seen.

He twisted his head to look at the small clock hung up at the back of one of the stalls. 3:55 pm. Well, Sakura had a few more minutes until she'd officially be late and he'd get to tease her that she couldn't find—

Facing forward, he met pink hair in a tight bun, crossed arms, and a pair of blank green eyes.

He didn't scream this time either.

But the taiyaki did fly out his hands, and she caught it.

"Afternoon, Hagane-san," she said with a cocked brow. "Enjoying a snack break?"

"How do you _do that_ —"

"Are those the practice swords we'll be using today?" she asked, spotting the two wood blades on his hip. He huffed at the interruption, but she ignored it and handed him back his snack. "I know the proper holding techniques and some of the basic strikes and blocks."

He grumbled as he took the taiyaki and motioned her to follow him down the street. "We're headin' off to the chuunin training grounds west of the village. It's kinda empty around this time, so no one's gonna poke by."

By the time they made it to the training ground entrance, Kotetsu's mix of curiosity and concern got the best of him.

"Uh, so that." He pointed to the bandages wrapped around her shoulder and part of her lower face. "That's new. Are you even good to practice? 'Cause it's not big deal if we push this back another day."

"Ah, I had my last healing session this morning. I can remove them." As Sakura undid the bindings, he nearly choked at the sight of an absolute mess of scars that mauled her side, like some feral thing had run her through and didn't let go.

But the scar was strange to see on a genin who could care less about having it. Kids her age would've been clambering to hide or boast about it with stories of shame or glory, but she's neither. Does neither. She simply tied up the used bandages, stashed them away in her pouch, and took a practice sword off his hip to spin it with an ease that never came with a beginner.

Kotetsu admitted to being off-put by everything she'd shown thus far, but his intrigue overpowered his better judgment. "You sure you're good?"

She rolled her bad arm for him to watch the scars roil and flex above her muscles. "It's just a scratch." Then, she dropped into a wide stance with the sword propped on her collarbone and an arm dangling on her front, and he's struck with faded recognition. "Your move, Hagane-san."

The recognition cleared as quick as it came, and he poised his own wooden blade and smirked. "Call me Kotetsu, kid."

And all while they sparred, he started to think that maybe this sensei business wouldn't be so bad after all.

(It would take 588 days for realization to hit. One day, while reminiscing, he would recall that the stance Sakura first used that day had been distinctly _Kiri_.)

::

"I went to the Archives earlier an' picked up a couple a' things for sensei's project," Kiba said. He tossed all the scrolls in his pack onto the already cluttered kitchen table. "Librarian thought I was just lookin' up clan histories n'stuff. I chatted her up, she didn' see Akamaru take the other books."

Sakura reached for the bowl of pistachios, cracked it open with one hand and her teeth, and tossed the shell into the sink behind her. She didn't miss. "I went back to the public library after training and took a few things from the history section. On the way back, I saw Jiraiya-san hanging around the women's bath houses." Her expression remained wholly unimpressed. "The fact that man is one of the sannin is truly a tragic one."

Kiba scoffed and unraveled his scrolls to summon all the texts. Their research doubled in size and the table buckled slightly under the weight. "What a fucking creep. You do somethin' about it?"

"Those in the bath house were promptly alerted and chased him off." She grabbed a couple more pistachios and tossed one to Shino who caught it with his free hand. He didn't look up from the diagram he was in the middle of sketching. "I suspect he'll never figure out how he got caught."

He finished his write up of the pedigree of the Hyuuga main house and set it with the rest of the clan lineages. The Hyuuga line had been a little disconcerting in recent generations—and with the split of the twins Hiashi and Hizashi into different branches? Truly, was that all family meant to them?

The differing seconds of birth?

"Another dubious figure Konoha admires. Quaint," he remarked dryly. Shino picked up two books he'd taken from his father's library: a monograph titled _The Aburame Foundation in the Village Hidden in the Leaves_ and _Clan Relations in Konohagakure_. A kikai beetle crawled up to his ear, and he frowned. "Sakura, there's a package for you at your door. My... colony could not catch who'd left it for you."

With a slight furrowed brow, she approached her front door. Senbon lined her arms beneath her green long sleeve and a short blade lay hidden on her back under her shirt, strapped along her spine. She cracked the door open, slowly, and there it was: a package that could fit Akamaru more than snugly and was brown, plain, wrapped in twine. She relaxed.

"From the stray," she called behind her. The horde of insects that swarmed her doorway receded and the trap seals placed around her apartment locked back up. As she bent to pick it up, the metal stairs clattered as someone slowly rose into view.

"Hey," she greeted. Naruto froze, blue eyes wide as he stared at her shoulder.

His face screwed up in pain.

And he fled back down the stairs and out of sight.

Taking the package back inside, she shuffled the other books and papers around to make space and set it down. The table groaned.

Before she opened it, she turned to her teammates with muted confusion floating around her stare. Kiba leaned back cautiously.

"You're never confused 'bout anything. Ever," he said at length. Shino raised his head. "What? You stuck tryna figure out how to take over the world?"

"Why has Naruto been avoiding me?"

Kiba blinked rapidly. "Um? He almost killed you, like, a few days ago? He probably thinks you hate his guts. I mean, you can't really walk up to someone after all that and go 'hey, sorry I turned into a big chakra monster and was this close to murdering you'."

She blinked back. "He had no control over his actions that day."

"Yeah, but you think he knows that? You were gone, dude."

"Scars are cosmetic and blood replenishes. I wasn't bothered."

"I don't believe he's been audience to your resilience quite as much as we have," Shino said. A bit of that guilt pooled at the back of his mind—freezing up, losing control, going crazy—but Sakura gave his wrist a firm squeeze and he breathed again. "You should find him and tell him that. Why? He wouldn't figure it out otherwise."

"... Huh." A kunai flickered into her hand and she slit the box open in a single swipe. Inside were even more documents, account books, and even folders stamped _ANBU-level clearance_.

A short note sat on top.

"Cardinal told me about your research," she read aloud. "Here are some legally obtained items at your disposal. I'll be back for them within a week. Good luck. Signed, Wisteria."

"Wisteria?" Kiba repeated. "Why, 'cause plants and trees and shit?"

"That can mean devotion, if I recall correctly," Shino informed. "Or one of their meanings, at the very least. It's certainly in character of him."

Far into the night they waded through Tenzo's box: mission reports, incident write-ups, assignments that had been mostly blacked out for security reasons, crime scenes descriptions...

But nothing caught their attention more than the incident report of the Uchiha Massacre and the _A Tragedy in Three Parts: the Uchiha Massacre_ text Sakura found collecting dust in the library.

"The dates of the massacre are different in this report than in the text."

Shino slowly faced her. "What?"

She handed him the open book. "Read me the dates listed."

"Night of April 24th, morning of April 25th."

"The report states the night of the 25th, morning of the 26th," she stated. "The information shouldn't be wrong. Incident reports, no matter how numerous, are sent through the system, cross-checked, and approved by the Hokage himself. And analysis can be done on the seal, but nothing looks out of the ordinary."

Apprehension snaked up Shino's chest just like it did when they found out about Naruto. When they were in Orochimaru's lab. When Danzo stepped out from the shadows to brand them. When he broke down trying to heal Sakura.

His hands started to shake.

"There's an ANBU mission here—assigned March 10th and completed April 26th of the same year." Kiba flipped through the papers in his hands. "No other assignment or completion dates even, like, touch the 26th." His eyes moved from Sakura's stone cold face to the cold sweat breaking out on Shino's brow. Something heavy began to settle over the kitchen. "The whole damn thing's redacted 'cept the dates. Not even a 'the' made it through."

The air ran thick as starch. It was getting hard to breathe.

" _When there are too many things to do and consider, it's always best to make a list. It keeps you organized, focused, and helps you prioritize,_ " recited Sakura. Her words coated with a chilled edge and a pen slipped into her hand. "So we'll make a list. Starting from the very beginning, what do we know about the Uchiha, their clan, and their relationship with Konoha?"

 **1.** _The Uchiha have a bloodline that runs through their clan and their clan only: the Sharingan._

 **2.** _The Sharingan has been described multiple times as "the eye that reflects the heart". The reason for this is not documented. Sources: Uchiha and Senju Through the Years; The Legacy of the First Hokage; Clan Relations in Konohagakure_

 _Note I_ _: but, in The Reign of the Nidaime Hokage: Senju Tobirama's Imprint on the Will of Fire, Senju Tobirama has been quoted on calling the acquisition of the Sharingan a "Curse of Hatred". The phrase has not been expanded upon._

 _Note II_ _: it's known the Sharingan comes to its user in situations that cause emotional exhaustion. It is not inherent like the Byakugan._

 _Note III_ _: the "Curse of Hatred" is explicitly tied to the Uchiha as the "Will of Fire" was explicitly tied to the Senju until embodiment in Konohagakure's creed._

 _Note IV_ _: if the "Will of Fire" is an ideal predicated on the thought that love is the key to peace, is it reasonable to believe the "Curse of Hatred" was a phrase meant to indicate the opposite?_

 **3.** _While Senju Hashirama sought for peace between his clan and the Uchiha, Senju Tobirama had not accepted them with as much vigor than his brother, though he extends a form of peace during his reign as Nidaime Hokage. Source:_ The Reign of the Nidaime Hokage: Senju Tobirama's Imprint on the Will of Fire

 _Note I_ _: Forms of peace offerings include granting the Uchiha full control of the Konoha Military Police Force._

 _Note II_ _: This is a fully operating judicial system placed in the hands of a single clan._

 _Note III_ _: The headquarters are located on clan grounds, which are located on the far outskirts of the village._

 _Note IV_ _: The prison for Force is also located on the compound. This is impractical and a hazard to the non-shinobi populace of the clan. The dangers are apparent and illogicity of the placement is noted._

 _Note V_ _: By granting the Uchiha control of a_ _ **judicial**_ _system, they are forced to stay neutral in every and all situations._

 _Note VI_ _: The Nidaime Hokage granted them political power._

 _Note VII_ _: The Nidaime Hokage took away their autonomy as a free entity residing in the village._

 **4.** _The Uchiha have been fighting the Senju for centuries before the conception of Konohagakure._

 _Note I_ _: Hundred of years of resentment cannot disappear with a single treaty._

 _Note II_ _: The Uchiha have been described as a "hostile body" multiple times in texts. Sources:_ A Tragedy in Three Parts: the Uchiha Massacre; Uchiha Madara and the Birth of a Village

 **5.** _Uchiha Madara had once rallied against Konoha once Senju Hashirama was deigned the Shodaime Hokage. The reason has been confirmed as a the thought of the beginning of the "Senju Supremacy" over the other clans, specifically the Uchiha. Sources:_ Supremacy: A Vision of the Senju?; Konoha's History; Uchiha Madara and the Birth of a Village

 _Note I_ _: The fears of another Uchiha uprising have not abated until the eventual massacre of the clan, public opinion details._

 **6.** _By the reign of the Sandaime Hokage, the Uchiha have been described as an isolated clan. Sources:_ Clan Relations in Konohagakure; Uchiha and Senju Through the Years; A Short Lived Career of the Konoha Military Police Force

 _Note I_ _: Very, very few Uchiha do not enter the Konoha Military Police Force after passing the Chuunin Exams._

 **7.** _In the Kyuubi attack against the village, the Uchiha Clan did not offer their support._

 _Note I_ _: Ostracisation of the clan began._

 _Note II_ _: It has been speculated that the Sharingan is capable of controlling a tailed beast._

 _Note III_ _: After accusations of involvement with the attack, the Uchiha responded with an increasing number of their members entering ANBU squads, Tokubetsu Jounin lines, and being directly employed under the Sandaime Hokage._

 _Note IV_ _: Only one Uchiha who gained ANBU rank became captain and worked directly for the Sandaime._

 _Note V_ _: This Uchiha is Uchiha Itachi, first born son to Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto and next in line to be Uchiha Clan Head._

 **8.** _The clan is massacred not even six months into Uchiha Itachi's career as an ANBU Captain._

 _Note I_ _: At the time of death, over 200 Uchiha Clan members are alive._

 _Note II_ _: The death of one Uchiha Shisui is recorded two days before the incident. His body is recovered in Konoha's river. His eyes are never found. His death is ruled a suicide._

 _Note III_ _: The morning after the massacre, all bodies are recovered with their eyes intact._

 _Note IV_ _: There are no sign of struggle at the crime scene. There are no reported scorch marks at the crime scene; the Uchiha are a clan of fire jutsu users—utilization of such techniques are to be expected. There is only one reported survivor at the crime scene: Uchiha Sasuke._

 _Note V_ _:_ _ **At the time of death, over 200 Uchiha Clan members are alive.**_

 _Note VI_ _:_ _ **21**_ _were elders aged 65 and above._

 _Note VII_ _:_ _ **83**_ _were civilians._

 _Note VIII_ _:_ _ **44**_ _were children aged 12 and below._

 _Note IX_ _: It is statistically impossible for a shinobi even as talented as Uchiha Itachi to kill all clan members in a single night without alerting the rest of the village. Implication: he was not the only perpetrator._

 _Note X_ _: It is insisted numerous times that the Uchiha Clan had been Uchiha Itachi's fault, and only his._

 _Note XI_ _:_ _ **He was not the only perpetrator.**_

 _ **9.**_ _The decision of Uchiha Itachi's involvement was decided within_ _ **48**_ _hours of the incident. Konoha investigations do not declare their findings until at least_ _ **168**_ _hours of hands-on investigation._

 _Note I_ _: Uchiha Itachi was 13 years old at the time of the massacre._

 _Note II_ _: No reason behind the attack has been reported._

 _Note III_ _: In the years following the Kyuubi attack, it was common practice to request any Uchiha to be removed from an assigned squad. Reasons include: unease of teammate, teammate's refusal of following orders, etc._

 _Note IV_ _: Ostracisation of the Uchiha Clan continued further._

 **10.** _The Sandaime Hokage did not issue a statement against the loss of one of the Four Noble Clans of Konoha._

 _Note I_ _: No public funeral or ceremony was held for the Uchiha._

 _Note II_ _: There are no graves for these fallen Uchiha located in Konohagakure._

 _Note III_ _: The Uchiha Compound remains desolate, unmaintained, and sectioned off._

 _Note IV_ _:_ _ **Orochimaru's lab was left in the same state as the Uchiha Compound.**_

 **11.** _Uchiha Itachi had no reason to kill his clan._

 _Note I_ _: Uchiha Itachi has been reported in spending more time in the Sandaime Hokage's circle rather than his clan's affairs._

 _Note II_ _: Uchiha Itachi has been reported in by peers to have grown reclusive from his clan before the massacre._

 _Note III_ _: The last place Uchiha Itachi was seen before the massacre was the Hokage Tower._

 _Note IV_ _: Shimura Danzo would have an interest in Uchiha Itachi._

 _Subsequently, so would the Sandaime._

 _ **The fears of an Uchiha uprising never abated until the death of the clan.**_

 _ **There was no public sympathy for their murder.**_

 _ **Uchiha Itachi had no reason to kill his clan.**_

 _ **Uchiha Itachi had been faithful to his village.**_

 _ **Uchiha Itachi would have no reason to kill his clan.**_

 _ **Unless he was ordered to.**_

There was no other feeling to describe them in that moment than to say they were drowning.

The pen in Sakura's grip snapped and her fingers stained with black ink. It dripped on the list but she didn't move to clean it. Her eyes burned with a cold fire, green and blazing and if it could set a flame the whole apartment would torch under her gaze.

Her anger was unfathomable.

(Rage swept over her like tides in a storm.)

Shino grabbed his arm to quell his shakes, but every line of that like was like a blow to his body, to his psyche. He couldn't stop shaking and his vision was tilting to one side. But this time he felt it justified—there was no other reason for it. Again, for them the world had tilted on its axis.

Uchiha Itachi was a scapegoat.

Uchiha Itachi was a victim.

(He felt like water was filling his lungs.)

Kiba's pupils shrunk.

"Why's it that every time we try ta' fix somethin', there's somethin' else. Somethin' worse?" he whispered. "People hate Naruto 'cause of somethin' he couldn't control. Orochimaru kidnapped kids to experiment on them, and Danzo kidnapped kids 'cause he's a sick bastard." His tongue burned red for a brief moment of warning. "And Uchiha Itachi? Uchiha _FUCKING_ Itachi?"

(It was like ice cold water pricked his skin at every angle, and he couldn't escape.)

He was on his feet, his chair violently knocked to the ground.

"MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE DIED THAT DAY! INNOCENT OR NOT, THEY'RE THE PRODUCT OF WHAT THIS FUCKING VILLAGE MADE OF THEM! NOBODY _CARED_! NOBODY _MOURNED_!" His fingernails grew to a sharpened tip and he howled. "HE WAS THIRTEEN! _WHO THE HELL LET THIS HAPPEN?!_ "

His fist smashed against the table, and it was enough.

The weak plastic buckled and cracked, folding in on itself that it collapsed onto the ground with an almighty crash. Papers flew, pens and pencils rolled, books toppled, folders crumpled.

Heavy breathing was the only sound that filled the kitchen.

Kiba's hand trailed to the hitai-ate on his forehead. To all, it was a symbol of their nation's pride and a status of them as her warriors. The metal gleamed and the blue cloth stayed free of dirt.

 _At all times, it must be polished,_ their Academy teachers would tell them. _Make sure there are no tears in the cloth. Inspect it daily. It will be a sign of your greatness._

He yanked it off his forehead and threw it on the ground by his feet.

A beat. A quiet breath drawn.

Shino shakily slipped his own hitai-ate off his head and let it drop.

Sakura silently watched it all. She herself didn't hold true allegiance to Konoha, never had, and the only thing holding her back from cutting all her ties was that she wasn't a strong enough shinobi to sever them herself. But the story was completely different for both Kiba and Shino. Their clans were a part of what held Konoha up on its pedestal, and they'd had nothing but expectations to bear the Will of Fire since they were born.

Her father was a missing-nin and Amegakure was a safe haven for defectors. She didn't know what it was like to drift away from a village she'd pulled out her heart for.

This was their decision despite how much she knew it hurt for them to make it.

She plucked her own headband from atop her head and tossed it aside, both the metal and cloth smeared with dark ink.

When she was younger, her father always told her he never wanted her to have his life.

 _'I wonder,'_ she thought bitterly, _'how disappointed in me he'd be.'_

(They tried to swim to the surface.)

(But the world would have rather watched them sink.)

::

Aoba peered through one of the back windows of the Aquatic Center and saw a trio swimming the lanes in an otherwise empty facility.

Yuuhi Kurenai's brows were pinched in concern as she paced the length of the pool. She spun around and blew the whistle looped around her neck, and all three swimmers stop at one end of the pool and slump against the edge.

As he observed them thoughtfully and made his way inside, he caught the tail end of Kurenai's lecture.

"—eep last night?"

A chorus of grumbling groans was her answer, and she sighed. Aoba smiled when she turned to acknowledge him.

"Hello, Yuuhi-san."

"Hello, Yamashiro-senpai. What brings you here?"

"Sakura told me her team would be training here most of the day," he said, quickly turning towards the pool. "Good evening Sakura and her teammates!"

Sakura flopped a hand up in a weak wave and he was pretty sure the teammate next to her was starting to fall asleep face down on the concrete flooring. That probably wasn't good.

His attention was back on Kurenai. "Would it be alright if I could speak to Aburame Shino-san? About training him for the exams?"

The boy _not_ snoring on the ground perked up and lifted himself a bit above the water.

"Of course." Kurenai smiled down at her students. "We're done with practice for today. Shino, feel free to speak with Yamashiro-senpai. Sakura..." The girl had half her face in the water, Kiba's snoring increased in volume, and Akamaru floated by on a paddle board. Why was it always a paddle board? "Could you please wake him up?"

"Sure."

Sakura pulled the the strap of his goggles and threw him back into the water. A few seconds later he splashed back up.

" _You tryna kill me?!_ "

"Are you dead?"

Aoba chuckled and waited patiently as Shino hefted himself out of the water. The swim cap came off but the goggles didn't, strangely, and he dried himself off before throwing on a shirt and his coat and draping a towel across his shoulders.

They walked out the center with a wave and Shino promising to meet back at Sakura's place for dinner, or around then.

Once they were out on the street, Aoba cleared his throat. "So, what would you consider your strengths?"

"Medical ninjutsu," Shino replied. His head keeps straight ahead of them. "Poisons, observation." Reluctantly, he added, "... Research."

Aoba nodded along to the list. The first he couldn't help with, but the last three were interesting. Working in the Intelligence Division required them to be quite talented in observation and research, so he made a mental note to teach him techniques along those lines. And the poison part? A bit foreign to him, but...

"Maybe I can't help you with poisons, but what do you think about the effect of paralysis on your opponent?"

For the first time, Shino glanced up as his face lit up in an unholy interest. The goggles were tinted too dark for Aoba to get a good look at his eyes, but he imagined them hungry for knowledge. "Yamashiro-san, please teach me everything you can."

Aoba nodded again, this time in approval. An eager learner. That was good—he could probably have an easy first teaching experience.

Not bad.

Back in the Aquatic Center, Kiba slunk off to the receptionist to return the paddle boards and swim weights while Kurenai jotted down some notes on her clipboard and tweaked the practices she'd lead in the upcoming days. She stopped when Sakura came up and handed over a small envelope.

A complicated seal taped down the flap, and her fingers tightened around the corner. "What's this?"

"The project you gave us on Monday yielded us some unfavorable results. I know you wanted us to review the broader spectrum of Konohagakure's politics, but we got sidetracked." Green eyes went frighteningly cold, and an eerily empty feeling clattered at the bottom of Kurenai's stomach.

 _No. Not again._

"We're not allowed to tell you a lot of things," Sakura continued. She pushed the envelope closer to her sensei. "But what we found now should clue you in about the types of things that got us into this in the first place." She picked up her swim bag from the bench just as Kiba wandered back with Akamaru. "Take care of that envelope, sensei. It may not be a hundred percent conclusive, but take it as you will." Yawning, Kiba hoisted up his own bag. "There's something I need to do before I head back to my apartment. You mentioned something about meeting Iruka-sensei after this?"

He grinned. "Yeah. Normally he doesn't do Fridays, but he told me yesterday that he wants t'meet for a couple hours to talk about the three dimensional sealing theory I brought up yesterday. We're gonna try ta' knock some out." Kurenai hadn't moved, gaze glued to the envelope in her hands. The grin slipped off his face. "Sensei."

She flinched and lifted her head. Her remaining students stood tall and unabashed, like they hadn't been beaten down and cast under the guillotine Konoha built for them.

"The seal's keyed into your chakra signature, so only you can open it. And uh, you should tell Tenzo-san too. His stuff helped a bunch."

 _'Stuff?'_

"I'll... I'll keep that in mind," she murmured. Her mouth opened and there was still a million things she needed to say. She wanted to hold them and never let them go, shield them away from the world because everything was too much, taken them far, far away from here because they deserved nothing more than that.

But if they ran, Konoha would catch up with them.

Wildfires are always the hardest to put out.

So she forced a smile and shooed them out the building. "I want you all to get a good night's rest tonight, and make sure you tell Shino too! Sleep well, eat a good breakfast, and I'll see you for training tomorrow morning!"

She held the envelope close to her chest.

(It felt like it was burning through her.)

::

Naruto was staring at his electric kettle when his window slammed open and Sakura jumped through, hair damp and that signature blank look on her face. He was on his feet before he knew it and scurried back until his shoulder smacked against his fridge. The small duffel she had hit the floor and she crossed her arms.

Even though her shirt covered most of it, he could still see the scars.

"You're avoi—"

"I'M SORRY, SAKURA-CHAN!" he wailed. She faltered as tears sprung out his eyes. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'll never bother you again I _swear_!I know you hate me an' I know I'm a monster an' I'll go 'way and never bother you again okay?! I promise! I-I-I—"

Two strong hands grasped his shoulders and squared him forward. He was forced to look into that face that never once scrunched up in disgust, the mouth that never told him he was worth nothing, the eyes that were always honest.

And he cried harder. Because he'd lost all of that, and it was all his fault.

Sakura smiled slightly. "You never did anything I'd hate you for."

He blubbered. "But—But—"

"Accidents happen and it wasn't you," she assured. "Besides, do I look like someone who cared about having scars?"

He was dreaming. He had to be. He knew what he did—maybe he didn't remember the whole thing but ero-sennin said there was someone he couldn't see except for blue and a flash of pink. A flash of pink? It couldn't be anyone else but Sakura. Sakura-chan. His first real friend.

Ero-sennin said he'd look into hospitals to see if anyone with claw-like wounds checked in for treatment. When he found nothing, Naruto told him to drop it and he could handle it himself.

Handling it by avoiding it seemed like a good idea and it kinda worked until she busted through his window like a badass.

He hiccuped. "R-Really?" he whispered. She cocked a brow.

"Would I be here if I was lying?"

He launched himself at her and it was a miracle he didn't tackle her onto the ground. The kettle on his table whistled and he wrapped his arms around her as tight as he could, his face buried in her shoulder and mixing her shirt with his snot and tears.

Sakura slowly patted her back—at least, as much as she could with the awkward angle.

"We're having stir-fry for dinner tonight. Wanna come?"

Naruto sniffled. "... Yes, please."

::

Deep within Lightning Country amidst the rocky terrain and short-stumped trees, Uchiha Itachi stopped and tilted his head upwards. Kisame paused beside him and glanced down, his brow raised.

"Something the matter, Itachi-san?"

Itachi was silent for some moments before his feet kept moving forward, one step in front of the other. "Nothing. Let's keep moving."

Kisame brow climbed higher as he looked up and over his shoulder. An old olive tree sat by their path, green and growing, with a fluffy little dove preening its white feathers on one of the branches.


	32. Burn

At the end of the first fight of the Chuunin Exam finals, Naruto emerged the victor to most of everyone's stunned disbelief. But Iruka clapped despite the light smattering of applause and when he looked up at the bleachers just behind him and to the left, he smiled wider when he spotted Kiba cheering loudly all the same. Both he and Sakura sat leagues away from the other rookies at the top row near one of the exits. The latter had been attentive to the battle, and though she remained expressionless through the majority, he saw her crack a smile at Naruto's finishing blow.

Iruka was glad they offered their support when no one else did.

Kiba shouted something he couldn't quite catch, and his smile falters a touch. There's... actually a lot about them, Kiba especially, that he would've never learned had he not trained him for the entirety of a month.

 _Even though Iruka knew how proficient his old student was after stumbling upon him and his theories at the library, he should've known there was more to it. Every time they met, Kiba came with new inquiries of outlandish theories that he somehow made work, questioned solid seal formations to propose new loopholes or builds, and had even once brought the idea of organ preservation through seals that could mimic body functions to keep things like hearts and livers alive until transfer._

 _Eventually he learned that he got some of his ideas from Shino working at the hospital and Sakura's surprising knack for imagining concepts, but it was mostly all weaved from the mind of one Inuzuka Kiba to his teacher's utmost astonishment and guilt._

 _And one day when he decided to accompany him to a shop to stock up on sealing supplies, he learned something else._

 _"Still practicing, kid?" the shopkeep smiled, gathering everything set in front of her and punching in the numbers. "It's the third time this week you've popped in. Think you're ready to be the best seal's master Konoha's ever seen?"_

 _Kiba laughed. "Nah, I'm still tryna make a good storage scroll. I messed up the first one and did lotsa studyin', so I know what to do know. And when I make a real good one, I'll even write your name on it!"_

 _She chuckled and stacked the sealing paper and ink bottles in a paper bag, exchanging it for the money he handed over. "You'll do fine, kid." She granted Iruka an appraising stare. "And you're a new sensei of his, right? Make sure you do right by him. I won't have some hoity-toity shinobi messing up this kid's chance of being amazing."_

 _Iruka nodded fervently. "O-Of course!"_

 _"Sato-san, c'mon," Kiba groaned. He peered into the bag and frowned. "Hey, I only got six ink bottles. Why's there eight in here?"_

 _Sato-san pressed a finger to her lips and winked. "I want to see my best customer turn into Konoha's Number One Seal's Masker and he needs good ink for that, eh?"_

 _"Oi, Sato-san! I can't—"_

 _"I'm not hearin' it, kid! Now scram and get that practice in!" She shooed them out from behind her counter, and Kiba begrudgingly retreated to the exit with a pout. The shopkeep pointed a finger at Iruka. "And don't you mess up either, bub!"_

 _Akamaru barked and Kiba reddened. "Sato-san!"_

 _Though amused as he was, once they leave the shop, Iruka's humored smile fell as he peered down. "Kiba, you already know how to make a good storage scroll. I've seen your work—it's-it's the first thing you told me you learned how to make. And you managed to nearly everything-proof it!" His frown deepened. "You seem to really get along with Sato-san. Why did you lie to her?"_

 _The boy glanced up, and suddenly, there was a show in his eyes even if the rest of his face didn't betray his grin. It sends shivers down his spine. "Sato Akemi-san's a nice lady and has lots of good stuff at her shop, and it's not like I wanna lie, y'know? But if she knows how good I am, she's gonna tell a lotta people and a lotta people are gonna find out and I don't want that." His grin finally dropped. "No one needs to know how good I am with this stuff, and I'd 'ppreciate it if you didn't tell anyone either, sensei."_

 _"Kiba—"_

 _"And one day, I'll make her my best storage scroll." His gaze shadowed further. "I'll also give her protection seals. Set up good luck charms around her shop." He met Akamaru's eyes for a moment before looking back up. "Her kid went missin' a long time ago."_

 _Iruka startled. "Oh? That's... That's terrible."_

 _"Yeah. Sato Aki." Akamaru whined, but Kiba didn't seem like he was listening. But he did face back forward and all the chuunin can see of his face was his profile. "So if I can make her smile a bit by comin' in a lot and pretendin' I'm gettin' there slowly, I think I brighten up her day a bit more. I don't mind. She doesn't mind. So it's all good there, right?"_

 _(It would be a long time until Umino Iruka would learn the name Sato Aki was whispered into a lantern and set adrift.)_

The second match ended with an immediate forfeit. Shino barely had the time to pull his hands from his pockets when the Kazekage's eldest son lifted a hand and called a surrender.

The stadium swelled in incredulous murmurs, and Kiba threw his arms up.

As the proctors readied the next match, Nara Shikamaru v. Sabaku no Temari, Iruka let his mind wander again.

 _A line of kunai and an unhealthy amount of senbon were piled up at the boy's side. On each weapon a part of a seal was attached and Kiba rambled happily about his new theory. "So long distance sealing, right? If you can attach paper bombs and stuff to your weapons, why shouldn't this work? You get ta' control how big or small your range of attack gets, like this!"_

 _He absentmindedly took a handful of senbon and launched them towards a tree. Iruka spied the delicate ink work painted on each one and watched, flabbergasted, as he made a perfect diamond with a swirl design in the middle._

 _His gape furthered when Kiba grasped the four kunai with the attached tags next, looped chakra wire at the hilts, and fired. Each kunai maneuvered to a different corner of the field. At the exact point in which each of them land, ink burst with the force of a water spout and flowed through the grass until it shaped into a harshly complicated matrix._

 _When was the last time a long distance sealing technique was attempted to such a caliber? Iruka recalled combing through books upon books on sealing when he was first invested and found near nothing published less than thirty years ago. Sealing was a subtle art, feared for what it could grow into but not taken up by many because of the time and intricacies it took to master even one of the worthwhile ones. And since things like explosive seals and sealing scrolls were sold by the bulk at shinobi-approved prices, it wasn't hard to figure that people would sort of… drop off learning it if it was already at their disposal._

 _It took a moment for Iruka to deduce it as a trap he'd taught about a week ago._

 _'_ He... mastered it already? _'_

 _Akamaru wagged his tail enthusiastically and stood with pride._

 _Iruka dragged a scrutinizing gaze over the senbon embedded in the tree, searching for fault but finding nothing significant. The spaces between each weapon were uniform, the swirl drew its attention to the activation in its center, and the ink on the metal was immaculate despite looking like it had been drawn on with a toothpick._

 _Incredible._

 _The kunai, though, were a slightly messier thing to deal with. It was harder to input the finer details on a grand scale, but he doubted the typical shinobi were well versed enough in the sealing arts to know the difference between the beginning and end of a—what was this, a folded patch seal locked in four quadrants? Meters long?!_

 _If anyone else caught wind of this—_

 _Iruka swallowed down the dread that suddenly lodged in his throat, the fate of Uzushiogakure lurking in the depths of his mind._

 _He didn't want to think about it._

 _"Sensei." Iruka spun around from his close inspection of a top edge sequence to meet Kiba's back. He faced the seal on the tree, poking at one of the senbon with a careless finger. "You know anythin' 'bout seal reversals? Not like, seal breaking or chakra overloading, but uh, actual reversals."_

 _"Well, there's a 2% guaranteed success rate at conception. It increases .5% with every section you bypass, but bypassing also guarantees a .35% increase in fail rate due to another component getting negatively affected as a result," he explained, rubbing his chin with a hand. "That's why there's only one documented success for a seal reversal, and it was achieved by an Uzumaki when Uzushiogakure was still thriving. The process is tedious and it's highly unlikely to achieve the 50% success rate they need to attempt it, and most who try just drop it within the first few years."_

 _"... take too long," Kiba muttered._

 _"Hm?"_

 _"Nothin'. Just thinkin' out loud," he replied. His finger jabbed the senbon a little too forcefully, and a drop of blood ran down his skin. He perked up. "Hey sensei, you think the power of a seal increases with different liquid mediums?"_

 _Iruka opened his mouth to comment on the abrupt change of topic—Kiba never brought up a new theory without spouting out at least ten minutes of new possibilities before getting distracted by a new idea. But, he stopped himself. There was something... underlying there, like in class when a student avoided his gaze because they didn't want him to call on them._

 _Or perhaps, in this case, there was something he knew too much of and he simply refused to share._

 _It wouldn't be a stretch. Not with how inexplicably talented Kiba was._

Shikamaru surrendered when he could have won, delivering the victory to the sand genin and lazily sauntering out of the arena. Iruka slumped at the boy's lack of enthusiasm and pinched the bridge of his nose. Borrowing his habitual muttering, he sighed his own: "Troublesome."

Sasuke was the only remaining Konoha contestant now. Five minutes counted down on the clock, and Iruka caught something odd.

Shino, who'd taken a temporary aisle seat beside Sakura during the intermission, lurched suddenly— _he'd gotten new glasses too, red-rimmed, where had he seen those before_ —and bent to whisper in her ear. She frowned before glancing up at the Kage Box where her frown promptly morphed into a sneer, and she looked away. Kiba leaned towards his team incredulously, looking more than ready to explode, but she forced him back into his seat.

" _Then we'll do it now._ " Iruka squinted to watch her mouth move. " _Get the stray._ "

Then Sasuke and Kakashi appeared in a tornado of leaves and the stadium rumbled in excitement. Spectators rose to their feet for the most anticipated fight of the day, but it blocked his view of Team Eight.

Uneasy, he glanced up at the Kage Box. Nothing... _looked_ wrong?

He reluctantly shifted his attention back down to the arena in the end when he found nothing fruitful.

But not too long after, white feathers floated down from the sky and and a sudden tiredness washed over his bones. He didn't know if he was hallucinating or not, but when he looked back up at Eight as his eyes fell shut, they were no longer there.

::

Most of the village had yet to be alerted of the attack. Civilians walked the streets without a care and off-duty shinobi began to wonder why the hairs at the backs of their necks started to stand.

On one of the many rooftops covered by a particularly dense tree, four bodies crouched low with a scroll unfurled at their feet.

Slung low behind her, Sakura's katana brushed against the concrete. Her kusari-fundo was coiled at her hip. "Kankuro and Temari carried Gaara out of the village, Sasuke in pursuit," she informed. "It won't be long until everyone else wakes and the rest of the forces are dispatched—I'll follow after them and jump in when it's not suspicious. You all know what to do?"

Kiba smirked, but it was bitter. The weight of what they were about to do is heavy against his shoulders, but he didn't break. He couldn't. Not now. "ANBU's gonna go after the snake, jounin'll go after the enemy-nin, chuunin evacuate and protect the civilians. For the most part, anyway. We went through the blueprints and Konoha's emergency protocol, we know what's up."

Beside him, the lithe form nodded. "ROOT will be occupied due to the scale of this event," Tenzo added. His cat mask donned his face as his bone white armor shone. "After Kiba and I infiltrate the Hokage Tower, the seals will go up and we'll have a ten-minute window before they dissolve."

"And I will be heading for the hospital to attend to the injured that will surely come of this," said Shino. By now, he's almost used to the prosthesis. He could make it through an entire hospital shift without drawing notice to his eye, or lack thereof, and his sight didn't blur as much as it used to under stress. "Why? The hospital will earn the lowest level of active scrutiny, allowing me access to secluded areas for us to reconvene." Kikaichu poured out his sleeve and up Kiba's. He nodded towards them. "You know their purpose."

"Then it's settled," Sakura remarked. She extended her fist the same time Shino and Kiba's do, Akamaru's paw joining in quickly after. Tenzo hung back awkwardly until Kiba rolled his eyes and elbowed his side.

"Clock's tickin', dude. Come on."

Tenzo blinked once behind his mask and quietly obliged, curling his fingers into his palm and reaching forward.

Shino started. "The weak are meat—"

"—the strong eat," Kiba growled. Sakura's lips tipped down as her eyes hardened in promise.

" _And this time, it won't be me._ "

There was a depth to their words Tenzo didn't understand; a call to the other times they'd said it when no one else was there to hear it.

It's not a triumphant cry. They echoed a loss and a fault, a lie and a secret—all spilled over tongues they could no longer call their own.

They were far past the point of no return.

 _'But why,'_ he thought, _'did a group of genin care to dig out the darkness of the village when no one else bothered to try?'_

::

" _Shishienjin_!"

Purple flames shot up from the corners of the roof of the Kage Box, shining a blinding light as a barrier curved around the edges. The lines of fire grew into four milky black walls that trapped the Sandaime along with his assailant.

It was too murky to clearly see through.

An ANBU tried to ram it and caught fire upon contact.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the arm wound around his neck and the kunai pressed against the bottom of his chin. "Kazekage-sama, I don't quite understand your ploy," he stated calmly. "From our last correspondence I assumed both Konohagakure _and_ Sunagakure were on terms of acquaintanceship."

"Acquaintanceship? A true fool you are, Hokage-sama," the Kazekage chuckled. "The only relationship Konohagakure and Sunagakure will have with each other is war."

"War?"

"What else?"

"War should never be the first act. One must try to find a negotiation through civil means." His eyes narrowed further as the Kazekage's head bowed and his shoulders started to shake. "There's still time for such."

He waited and refused to flinch when the Kazekage threw his head back in a raspy laugh. "They say as one ages, the more one gets addicted to peace, Sarutobi-sensei."

Hiruzen froze. _No. It couldn't be._

On one of the far walls, an enormous three-headed snake smashed through. Bricks and foundation flew, but he didn't hear it. His heartbeat was in his ears, sweat dripped down the side of his face, and a hundred regrets clogged his throat.

"Here I came for a simple mission: take the Uchiha boy, destroy Konoha in the process, then I'm on my merry way. It's a good plan. Or, at least, it _was_." Half the Kazekage's face was covered, but he imagined a wide smile beneath the cloth, pale lips stretching in a way lips shouldn't. "But plans change. Wrenches get thrown in the works, and I've discovered my dear old sensei has turned into quite the hypocrite of himself."

Hiruzen gritted his teeth. What was he getting at? "Is that so?"

"Your thick head led Konoha to be outmaneuvered and outdone," the other hissed. A hand reached up to grip the skin of his face and pulled, tan pieces tearing to reveal the terrible paleness beneath. "And," he paused to chuckle, a harsh, sickly sound, "your surprising _cruelty_ led to that cute genin team in the Forest of Death to nearly die by your hands."

Orochimaru drove the kunai into his own hand and yawned as he released the Sandaime from his grasp and stepped to the side. "Ah, the set-up to the finals bored me to tears. I was so sleepy," he sighed. A glance to his mentor granted him the view of a wide-eyed shock, and he grinned. "What sort of look is that, sensei? Did I push a button? Strike a nerve?"

"The genin team—"

"Your priorities, sensei," he chided like he would to a child. "And it's quite interesting to see you so worried about getting caught than it is to watch your village _burn_."

::

No one noticed the two figures that slunk along the shadows, nor the even smaller, four-legged form creeping the spaces between windows and ledges. This part of the village had yet notice they were under attack, but it was only a matter of time before they saw the broken wall far east or the sound-nin that were no doubt beginning to swarm the place in droves.

Tenzo's cloak, flowing and beige, was enough of a buffer for Kiba to stay hidden between it and the walls they hugged. If anyone were to chance a look their way, no matter how brief (which would be few and far in between) they would see a higher ranking shinobi about their business.

At the Tower, he pulled them all to one of the hidden access routes secured behind the pipework attached to the side of the building.

Kiba huffed. "Secret entrance, huh? How many more you got?"

"Seven," the ANBU replied, wrenching off a wall panel. Kiba grinned—sharp canines and all—and sent Akamaru through first before slipping himself in.

 _'Though the entrances are not meant for our purpose of breaking and entering with the intention of stealing priceless information,'_ Tenzo continued to himself. He was the last to enter and quickly snapped the panel back into place.

A flash of guilt threaded through him. He shook it off.

 _'No. This needs to be done.'_

They emerged into a cleared hallway on the second floor. Kiba knelt to pry up a plank of the flooring armed with a senbon and a bottle of ink. Carefully, he painted a sequence no bigger than his pinky nail and watched the finished product whirl together to form an inconspicuous black circle.

 _'I have to do this for them.'_

He pressed the plank back into place. "Alert seal's good, should let us— _ghk_!"

A gloved arm wrapped around Kiba's middle and the other around Akamaru and then they were upside down on the ceiling in a shadow at the end of the hallway. Kiba stopped breathing as a couple of chuunin ambled down the hall.

"—oint is, it exists. Like, I saw it with my own two eyes and it's gonna haunt me for the rest of my damn life."

"It's not _fucking_ real."

"Then WHY did I SEE IT."

Tenzo counted to fifty-seven before he slowly crawled forward. Catching the hint, Kiba attached his feet to the ceiling and crawled alongside him, Akamaru settled into his hood as they crept their way towards the Hokage's Personal Library.

Five hundred sixty-three steps from the first stair onto the floor. Four seals on each corner of the library: one to hide it, one to lock it, one to bar it, one to shift attention away from it. Over fifty had tried to break in over the past ten years, but none had been the three of them: one of them the Hokage's top ANBU guard, the other a young boy with the raw talent of an untamed seals master, and the last a familiar with the mind nearly as sharp as his partner and a nose that picked up the faint musk of yellowing paper behind wooden walls.

There were two outcomes. Either they succeeded and lived until the next attempt at their lives, or they lose and were killed regardless.

But there was only one end they would accept, and that's what it would be.

"I think Iruka-sensei did this month's seal change," Kiba murmured as he ripped off two hidden seals at the base of the door. He held one up to the light, considering. "His quirks are all over it."

"Quirks?"

"You can tell who made a seal based on handwriting and sequence placement. He's been teachin' me for a whole month, so I can definitely pick up his stuff by now," he said. "And we don't gotta worry 'bout preservin' the seals. I've known 'im since back at the Academy, so I can forge anythin' he's made. Easy."

The top left seal probably needed to be downed first, and it didn't take long to unlayer and unstitch at the margins. Iruka always stopped at the bottom right and worked his way up and to the left before trying to fold it towards the center. But the thing about those folds was that there was an astronomically high chance for tears because of the angle and—there it was. Barely the width of a single sheet of paper.

Kiba tacked onto it with a pinprick of chakra and _yanked_ , and the seal spilled over in ink as the bars trapping the lock fell apart. After, all he needed to do was unlock the ends of each line to undo the matrix that melted away far quicker than the seal before it.

The boy grinned and spun on his heel to gesture dramatically at the now opened door. "Ta-da!"

Tenzo stared at the door, then at the genin with a puppy happily wagging a tail in his hood. "Konoha must be full of idiots to not realize your potential."

Kiba snorted before pulling out four new seals he stuck to the corners of the door. A brush came out of his pouch as well and he started copying the seals in almost identical strokes.

"You know what happens to good shinobi in this system? Get chewed up in the machine and get spat out more fucked up than when they got thrown in," he sneered. "Sensei showed you that envelope, didn' she?"

 _He'd known Uchiha Itachi. Worked with him. Spoke with him. Fought alongside him._

 _The papers fell from Kurenai's shaking hands and he'd caught them, trying to digest just... just what these kids were insinuating._

 _This couldn't be! This had to be some far-fetched idea, some concepts thrown together after grasping at the straws, this couldn't... this..._

 _Once, he'd watched the Hokage stand to the side as Danzo forced seals on four innocent tongues._

 _Why should this be that much of a stretch?_

 _"Is..." Kurenai gulped and lowered her voice to a deathly whisper. "Is there a chance this is true?"_

 _Tenzo sighed and crumpled the research in his hands. "Yes," he replied softly. "Yes, there is."_

 _Twenty minutes on the dot since it opened, the seal glowed red and it, the envelope, and the notes burst into ashes._

A couple minutes later and no more close calls with unaware chuunin, the genjutsu seal reactivated but the other three seal were dormant, but ticking.

"We've got ten minutes before the whole thing blows over Get in, get out—got it?"

No one was in the hallway to see an ANBU, a genin, and a dog phase through a rippling wall.

::

Orochimaru leapt into the air to avoid the roof tile flung his way like shuriken and a snake erupted from his throat and out his mouth to dig its fangs into the Sandaime's neck. But that Sandaime melted into nothing but a pile of mud and the moment the sannin's feet touched back down on the roof, a mudslide sent him careening down the way.

"Is this all you can do, sensei?" he laughed. "Ah, how terrible it must be to grow _old_."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes, his hands already flying through a new set of seals. " _Doton: Doryuudan_!" Followed quickly by a, " _Katon: Karyuu Endan_!"

The mudslide pulsed and stretched into a dragon's head that spat mud bombs coated in orange flame, and Orochimaru was struck with more than ten of them before the mud dispersed and his real body slunk back up from hiding.

The ANBU guarding the outside saw nothing but a silent flash through the darkened barrier.

"Did you think that's all it would take to kill me?" Orochimaru hummed. His tongue flickered and the odd, synthetic quality of his skin barely crinkled. "You've _definitely_ put more effort trying to end that team, ah, what were their names? Kiba-kun, Shino-kun..."

Wary eyes were searching. Guarded. "Certainly you haven't come here to lecture about a passing intrigue, Orochimaru."

The sannin had to pause before a sharp grin carved into his face. He'd never quite found the reason for little Sakura-chan's animosity towards her Hokage, nor why ROOT of all people had been out on the hunt the one time screams of terror would be chalked off as part of the game.

It had been a while since he'd lurked, though. That month since he saw Kisame off he'd respected his wishes and hadn't paid that lovely team a visit. But when he sat up in the Kage Box in full view of Sakura-chan and her beautiful new scars? _Oh_ , he just _had_ to tip off that Aburame about the siege, for what fun could they be if he caught them off guard with Kabuto's genjutsu?

He'd watched them disappear from the arena, alerting no one of their discovery and leaving the village to succumb.

In that moment, it was apparent to him. Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hoshigaki Sakura weren't loyal to Konohagakure—least of all the Hokage.

And his dear old sensei had once again found a way to let his people down.

"And how strange for the Hokage to have grown to care so little about Konoha's future," he smiled. "There was something they'd mentioned when I'd come across them. What was it again? Ah, I'm sure it'll come flowing back to me in a moment. Where were we?" He hummed. "Oh, yes, right where I want you."

Pale fingers curled into four signs: tiger, snake, dog, dragon, before his hands clapped together and two coffins rose up.

::

"Take Gaara and get outta here!" Kankuro snapped, his patience at its end. Temari hesitated for a moment. She glanced at the prone body of her youngest brother, then to the back of the elder brother, and she sighed as she looked away from both. They'd get nowhere if all three of them were caught in that Uchiha's way.

"Fine," she relented with a tired sigh. Gaara's body— _had it always been this small?_ —was up on her shoulders. "But get this over with quick. We don't have time for more interruptions."

Temari was long gone by the time Kankuro's fingers brushed the top of his puppet, and Sasuke sneered from his perch on a tree branch.

"It doesn't matter who I fight," he scoffed, reaching into his pouch for a kunai. " _You'll be dead where you stand._ "

"Which won't be necessary," a new voice interrupted. Struck at the familiarity, Sasuke blinked and turned to the branch behind him. Sakura leaned against a tree with her arms crossed and her face as blank as it ever was and—shit, when did she get those huge scars? He hadn't seen her since finding out she was the idiot's next door neighbor.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. Sakura turned a pair of bored green eyes to him.

"Shino placed one of his kikai on you before you left the arena," she said. He flinched and looked down, grimacing when he spotted an insect or two crawling along his black shirt. When he looked back up, he couldn't help but flinch again at the sight of insects crawling up from inside her shirt to the flesh of her cheek. "Uchiha-san, go after Gaara. I have business to deal with here."

Sasuke glanced between the both of them, Sakura as cold as he'd ever seen her and Kankuro quieter than how he was mere seconds ago.

He smirked. "You seem confident. Are you going to be okay?"

"... Heh." She returned his smirk with a small one of her own as she gripped the hilt of her katana. "Don't worry about me when I'll be the one shredding his puppet to _ribbons_."

Sasuke smirk widened as he leapt up through the trees after Temari and Gaara.

Exactly fifteen seconds after his departure, her face dropped and she met Kankuro's gaze. Or, tried to. His head was tilted and she was sure his eyes were flickering over different parts of the bark behind her, trying to focus on anything that wasn't her.

"It's not hard to play up Uchiha-san," Sakura said. The hilt dropped from her grasp and her arms were back over her chest. Kankuro blew out a terribly shaky sigh as his hand dropped from his puppet. "So?"

His brow scrunched. "So what?"

"So both your siblings, one of them the eldest of the Kazekage's children and the other Suna's jinchuuriki are out being chased by the sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre. Not exactly a prime example of political decency."

She disappeared and reappeared beside him on his branch to take a seat on the gnarled bark. Kankuro hesitated, briefly, before mussing the top of his hood and plopping down beside her. He wanted to ask how she learned to shunshin with such faint traces of smoke or when she started studying with swords, but he kept quiet. The birds chirped, the wind rustled, Konoha's walls fell, and the screams of battle echoed every which way.

"Why..."

Sakura tipped her head, but didn't look his way. The beetles continued to crawl along her cheek. "Hm?"

"Your village is being attacked. Suna and Oto teamed up to take you down and—what, you're fine with it? Sitting here drinking some metaphorical tea with the enemy while your literal home is crumbling to dust?" He waved an incredulous hand in the direction a plume of smoke started to rise. "Fuck, dude. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you couldn't give two shits about Konoha."

When there wasn't an immediate response, a small chuckle, or even a light scoff, he shifted. And quietly, so quietly, he spoke.

"... Fuck. You for real?"

" _Simply, the Will of Fire is that love is the key to peace_ ," she recited. " _Maybe I do not speak for us all, and perhaps I am the first to say, but this is one village of one family. Everyone here and everyone that will be is born with a fire in their hearts, and here, I hope, that Konohagakure stokes it into a flame that burns brightly for all to see, to admire, to draw strength upon. The Will of Fire is hope. The Will of Fire is us._ Senju Hashirama, page seventy-five of 'The Will of Fire'." A groan of crushing rock broke in the distance as another cloud of smoke billowed upward. "But it doesn't say what happens when a fire is stoked for too long. If it grows out of your control, what do you do? Let it consume, or snuff it out? Many choose the latter and I can't fault them on their logic, but it's them I blame for what they created."

She stood, and Kankuro slowly followed suit. He wasn't stupid—he'd tinkered with puppets long enough to know when to squint for splinters or read carved lines between wooden joints. She didn't waste her time trying to hide her admission, and he was almost surprised that it didn't send any warnings off in his head.

He knew corruption the same way he knew his father never learned to love his youngest son. He knew it could happen to anyone, anywhere, despite the good of heart or the wickedness of soul. Corruption didn't have a name or face, but people wore it well enough. Sometimes he saw it in Suna, recently he'd spied it in the depths of Orochimaru's eyes, and he thought it was about time Konoha's ugly face finally reared its head from behind its goody two shoes shtick.

"So what do you fault them in?" he questioned.

"That they'd be inept enough to start a fire in a forest. Leaves are fodder—the more they try to hide me in them, the quicker I'll burn." Her lips quirked and her eyes sparked with cold lightning. "But sand is certainly more effective at putting out flames. Now that you know I have no problem seeing smoke, what are you going to do about it? Try to snuff me out too?"

The scars on her shoulder were pink canyons in her skin. They were horrible things, like muscle had been ripped and torn out in strips.

"We leave the politics to the Daimyo and the Kage," he said, dragging his eyes away from her injuries and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "And that political mess that's gonna go down out there? None of my business, 'cept the fact I don't want my siblings dead. But they can take care of themselves and make their own decisions." He drew in a deep breath. "Just like I can."

Kankuro held out an arm. Sakura observed it before stretching out hers to grasp his forearm. The heat of his fingers bled through her arm wraps.

"If you want to see this place burn to the ground, I won't stop you. I don't know what they've got over your head, but you're too damn smart for it to be some dumb shit. I saw the way you lost in the preliminaries, but that was a choice, huh?" The amused cock of her eyebrow said all he needed to know. "Look, this ain't my mess. But if I stay on your side, you stay on mine."

"As comrades?"

"As... friends."

Friends.

The taste of the word was still odd on her tongue. Kiba and Shino she wouldn't dub as such—they were too close for that, in too deep with their secrets to be anything other than a unit. A family.

But friends?

She didn't have too many of those. Never had.

"Friends," she nodded. She eyed him thoughtfully. "Though if you ever cross me, I'll kill you and no one will ever be able to find the body."

"And lose my tourist guide? Nah, not worth the effort." He dropped her arm and cast one more glance toward Konoha. "But it'd be suspicious if anyone saw us uninjured with full chakra reserves."

Sakura hummed and tipped her head. "I can manipulate my chakra to appear a different level than it is." She paused. "Can I punch you in the face and cut one of your puppets in half?"

Kankuro stared blankly.

Then heaved a long suffering sigh. "As long as I can slam you into the ground from up here."

::

Bringing in the Shodaime and the Nidaime, he admitted, was more in part for him to buy more time for his forces to further the invasion. That, and to see just how much he could go and make his old sensei _tick_.

And with the reveal of his new, younger vessel, he was sure Hiruzen was one popped artery away from keeling over.

Not that it wouldn't be fun to watch an old man croak from a failing organ. No, Sarutobi Hiruzen was going to die slowly, surely, blood soaking every inch of his clothes and the sweet savor of his mistake along the edges of his teeth.

"It... It can't be. That forbidden jutsu—"

"It wasn't hard to perfect it after leaving this waste of a village," Orochimaru dismissed. He chuckled. "Ah, I remember that look on your face when you thought you'd caught me red-handed in my lab, experimenting on those delightfully dreadful children. Thought Danzo was the only one, did you?"

Hiruzen ground his teeth. "Orochi—"

"But you didn't stop me. You cornered me with no escape, you couldn't stand the thought of this brilliant jutsu development and sought to _destroy_ my life's _work_!"

" _Orochimaru_!"

Something crazed overtook his eyes—the yellow even brighter and the promising threat that much greater. His tongue swept out his mouth in a low arc before curling back up. "You didn't kill me that day. You couldn't. What stopped you? Why did you watch your two ANBU guards die by my own hand?" In a flash he was gone, and in another flash he had Hiruzen by the throat. Two wrinkled, calloused hands clawed at his wrist and he leaned forward. "Why did you let me go that day, Sarutobi-sensei?"

Hiruzen stilled. He could recall it like it was only yesterday; the grimy water that seeped into his sandals as he ran through those dark corridors lit with the occasional torch. The bitter tang of blood clipped through the air the closer they got, some of it old as rust, some as fresh as slaughter.

 _Why did you let me go that day?_

The Hokage choked when the hand on his throat pressed harder against his adam's apple. "You know w-why... You know why I couldn't..."

Orochimaru hissed. "That's not an answer."

"You want... an actual answer?" The hand slackened, and Hiruzen breathed. "Even when you were just a boy, you were ambitious and full of malice and you hid it well. But I was your sensei and I could see right through you when no one else could. But I... I pretended not to notice."

 _"You called him a_ _ **'genius with talent, knowledge, and determination—a prodigy found once in a generation'**_ _."_

"I believed in you... that you would carry on my own will and power. I thought the world of you, Orochimaru. I thought—"

 _"You '_ _ **couldn't wait to see him grow into a proud shinobi'**_ _. But he's been twisted for a long time."_

Hiruzen blinked away the tears that nearly surfaced. "I should have killed you that day."

 _"Everyone has a choice. And you've only been making the wrong ones."_

Orochimaru bared his teeth like the predator he was and dropped the old man before shunshinning to the opposite end of the rooftop. He yawned into his hand. "Well, what an unfortunate mistake to make. Really, are you going to try and rectify what you couldn't do over twenty years ago? Hm. Perhaps you're even more of a waste of time than I anticipated." He scoffed. "Who would think to overestimate a Kage?"

Hiruzen didn't reply. Instead, he raised a pair of rickety hands together. A clone appeared on either side of him, their palms pressed against one another and acceptance plastered all over his face.

"Clones?" his old student—no—the _enemy_ questioned. Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "You've gotten old after all. So quick to kill yourself?"

Snake, boar, ram, rabbit, dog, rat, bird, horse, snake.

There was a swirl of chakra, massive and looming and Hiruzen glanced solemnly over his shoulder. To everyone else there was nothing, merely blank space in a darkened barrier.

But to him, a gaunt apparition hung over his head. Its crimson horns barely peeked out of its wild mane of pale, white hair.

 _Shiki Fuujin_. The Dead Demon Consuming Seal. A suicide jutsu.

"There are too many mistakes that I cannot atone for, and I know that through all my failings, taking you down is the very least I can do!"

But too soon, his eyes went wide.

He looked down.

At the sword Orochimaru impaled through his chest.

"Sakura-chan told me to make you bleed, sensei," Orochimaru crooned, like a flat note played on a broken violin. "And I'm more than happy to oblige."

::

Shino flowed as easily through the bustle of Konoha's General Hospital like a fish swimming downstream. He dodged gurneys and frantic nurses, even taking a few files from one overwhelmed with her stack of thirty. Almost immediately he tugged off his jacket and snagged a mask and a pair of latex gloves as he stepped into the general assessment quarter.

Most of who lined the cots were shinobi and civilian alike—unconscious, more than likely suspended in Yakushi Kabuto's genjutsu.

He stopped one of the nurses. "Do we have a genjutsu specialist on call?"

The nurse nodded. "One specialist responded. Yuuhi Kurenai is reported to be on her way along with several more unconscious spectators from the stadium."

"Thank you," Shino bid and let him on his way. So Kurenai would be stationed at the hospital for the remainder of the siege? Good. It kept her out of Orochimaru's war path and assured she wouldn't tie into their plans should it go south.

And besides, their mission had been the spur of the moment. They hadn't the time to tell her anything until the whole thing blew over.

He felt strangely empty at half his colony not currently at his disposal, but it didn't stop him from sending a fourth of his available colony out to run evaluations on the new patients. Shino watched them crawl over prominent chakra points and vital organs to screen for anomalies.

He was glad the hospital staff was so used to his methods by now. He had started to grow irritated over their harping about sterile procedure and invasive healing, but after one of his specially crafted colonies had been able to detect chemical changes in the brain quicker than a regular medic could, they finally got off his back.

"Shino!"

Shino moved his head away from his kikai and towards the figure jogging his way. "Aoba-sensei."

"What's the situation in here?" Aoba questioned, lowering a body he'd carried onto one of the cots. He pushed up his green-rimmed glasses and stood by his student who flipped through some documents on a clipboard.

"Genjutsu-induced comas in every patient. We're running a general diagnostic to make sure none of them have dire problems that need to be tended to before the specialists come in to safely break it. Why? We need to assure there was no other genjutsu or something or other mixed in." Shino extended an arm and his insects swarmed back through his sleeve. "Though it appears nothing too nefarious has been done. I suspect this as a distraction ploy that disregards the safety of those affected."

Aoba nodded along. He suspected it too when he broke himself out of the jutsu some minutes after it started and awoke to an invasion. He would have stayed in the stadium to help fend off the enemy, but the five to ten upper division jounin already up in arms were taking care of it well enough, so he turned to the victims.

"What about outside?" Shino asked.

"There's been a breach in the walls and the eastern side is being assaulted by a snake summon. We've got some chuunin on the case now, but I'm not sure how much longer that can hold off." The whole hospital froze when another explosion rocked the ground from somewhere in the southwest. Then the bustle of white coats and glowing green hands frenzied. Aoba glanced out one of the windows. "I'll be awhile before I can bring any more injured or incapacitated to the hospital. I need to make it to the Hokage Tower before anything else.

Shino's mind short-circuited.

"The Hoka... why?"

"Ah, I suppose I haven't mentioned—as part of the Intelligence Division, it's part of my duty to seal up potential 'intelligence' pieces from enemy lines," he explained, tilting his head worriedly at Shino's reaction. "The Hokage Library comes first and I need to make sure no one breaks in."

' _Too late_ ,' Shino thought bitterly. His breathing sped up, his vision—ever so slightly—began to blur, his insects hummed in his growing anxiety.

But as quick as it all came, he shoved it aside—for now, just for now, they'd all be fine later, they wouldn't get caught, this wouldn't be what killed them—and stowed his clipboard at the end of one of the cots.

They expected this as one of their roadblocks. He would handle this cautiously.

"Let me go with you, sensei."

Aoba blinked. "Huh?"

"It's ill-advised to head towards such sought-after locations on your own, and with at least a medic-in-training to accompany you, the chances of survival or any victims we might encounter will rise," he said. He peeled off his gloves and mask and tossed them into the nearest trash can.

As he informed the head nurse of his departure, Aoba said nothing about how he could see the boy's hands shake beneath his sleeves. The mild panic attacks he'd witnessed over the month of training and spotting the signs leading up to them were more of a second nature now than anything.

He remembered the first time he'd seen it.

 _Aoba blinked away the stars in his eyes from that particularly strong elbow to the back of the head. He turned, mouth open to ask if Shino was alright from the heel kick to the face, but stopped short at the sight of broken black glasses on the ground. Shino stood to the edge of the training field with one hand over his eyes and the other propping himself up against a tree._

 _He rubbed the back of his head. "Are you alright?"_

 _When he received no response, he frowned and took a few steps forward. "Shino?"_

 _Shino straightened but didn't turn. "I'm alright, sensei."_

 _"Did the glass cut your face? Oh-Oh no, let me see—"_

 _"It didn't cut my face, and if it did, it would have been fine. Why? I would have healed it." He retracted his hand from the tree and waved it, but still didn't turn. "Please, just... a moment."_

 _Standing awkwardly in the middle of the field, Aoba scratched the side of his head._

 _Shino had always been a… reclusive sort. Not that there was anything wrong with that and he sort of expected it with the knowledge that he'd be mentoring an Aburame, but there was just something about him that was a little off._

 _Again, not quite off in a bad way, but off in like a_ — _for lack of a better term_ — _a Sakura-like way. The strangeness Aoba had grown accustomed to over the years and the display of unexpected strengths had him more excited than wondering. The Aburame prided themselves as espionage specialists, using their insects to hide in invisible cracks or track a foe if an Inuzuka or Hyuuga couldn't pick it up. But Shino?_

 _Instead of just using his kikai to sneak, he used it to take._

 _They siphoned chakra, stole medical diagnostics when opponents weren't aware, even went as far to crawl into skin and rupture limbs._

 _The last he'd heard as a result from the preliminaries._

 _Shino was blooming into a brilliant medic who showed no mercy. A combination of that sort shouldn't even_ exist _._

 _Aoba's fingers caught the arm of his glasses, interrupting his musings. A handful of seconds of thought was all it took for him to slip it off his face and approach his student slowly, making his steps as loud as possible. Just from over his shoulder, he could make out the pale hands shaking minutely and heard the boy desperately try to even out his breath._

 _He frowned, worried._

 _"Here." He held out the glasses just a few centimeters away from the boy's free hand. "Put these on."_

 _Shino turned slightly, the hand against his eyes pressing tighter. "What—"_

" _Just my glasses. You probably need them more than I do_ — _and, ah, I'll turn around, okay? Just let me know when you're all good," he said, and promptly spun to face the other end of the field._

 _He'd also heard something about eyes being linked with their insects in the Aburame Clan and he suspects it could be something like that, but the concern in the pit of his stomach nudges him otherwise. There's too much panic there to be something as small as that._

 _Shino quickly shoves the glasses onto the bridge of his nose and turned back around. "I—I apologize. I don't know what came over me."_

 _"Don't worry about it," Aoba grinned. And really, it wasn't a problem. Everyone was entitled to their own struggles and he wasn't going to pry if Shino wasn't willing to share. "And besides, the glasses look better on you than they did on me any day."_

 _Shyly, Shino raised a finger to poke at the glasses. He'd have to take it in to have a prescription lens instead of those polarized ones, but it was nice to have a change of glasses._

 _"Thank you."_

 _Aoba patted his head, bright brown eyes shining. "What for?"_

Aoba hurried out the hospital the minute Shino was back at his side and they hopped out the nearest window. Dust clouded the streets and debris scattered along their course, but there was nothing too close to the hospital.

He pressed his lips together decisively. First, the Hokage Library. "Shino, we need to head—" But as he turned, all he saw was an empty space. "Shino?!"

" _Move_!"

He dodged to the side in time for a body to fly past and crash into a slab of concrete. Shino followed with a piece of rebar in his hand and annoyance ticking his jaw. "The sound-nin was lying in wait. How did I notice? He did not expect my colony to be the ones to scout the area ahead of us, and thus was caught." He twirled the rebar once and stabbed it through the enemy's shoulder and into the ground in an effective pin. Aoba blanched at the blatant show of violence. "This won't kill him, but it will keep him put."

Shino retreated from his display without so much a second glance at the twitching body or the way one of his sandals squelched with blood.

"I will send my kikai to map us a route least populated by the enemy. Should we encounter another, I will not be as kind." He angled towards the appointed path of his colony. "Shall we?"

 _A medic with no mercy._

Aoba gulped. "After you."

He would never learn the path they took only added an extra five minutes and twenty-three seconds to their arrival time.

And, he would never know he would miss running into one Inuzuka Kiba and a Cat-masked ANBU by thirteen seconds.

::

Sakura avoided explosive tags and crumbling pieces of building with a sprained ankle and a growing concussion. The cut on her inner bicep still bled and she could taste copper in her mouth, but it was still far better than Kankuro who she'd left unconscious on the forest floor.

Initially he protested the idea, especially with the condition that two kikai would be left on his person because _'What if they start eating my puppets?!'_ , but he eventually obliged and grumbled while picking out the softest patch of grass to get knocked out on.

An enemy appeared in her way. She speared him through, twisted her blade, and sliced up through the stomach, throat, skull, and let the blood spray her pants.

They're dark. No one would be able to identify the stains.

Not too long ago an orange beetle landed on the back of her hand, signalling a part of the plan had been compromised and the meeting time at the designated hospital room was pushed up.

Another sound-nin tried to jump her from above, but she aimed the blade and thrust, metal stabbing through their chest as their choked surprise echoed in her ears and blood started to rush out their mouth. She flickered away before the body could knock her down and whipped out a worn cloth to wipe the blood off her sword. In a single swipe, it's cleaned and re-sheathed.

"One. Two," she stated aloud. She lent a quiet thought to each of her fallen opponents and continued on towards the hospital.

Halfway to her destination, she spotted a cluster of gray-garbed nin around someone she couldn't yet make out. But as a conch-shell mace erupted from the center and rams through nearly a fourth of the assailants, her recognition was immediate and she dove into the gray.

A head was cut off. Her hand snatched a fistful of hair and yanked until the head and neck attached to it snapped.

"Three. Four." She held herself at Kotetsu's back and, just before another one of the sound-nin could sneak a kunai through one of their legs, she wrapped her legs around their midsection and twisted, sending them face first into the ground and shoving their own kunai through the back of their head. "Five."

"Kid, when I told you to count to calm down, you know this isn't what I meant, right?" Kotetsu huffed. He surveyed the bodies that littered their feet. "Um? Good work? Though? I think?"

"Thank you? Kotetsu-san? I guess?" she mocked, bowing out of the way of a half-hearted smack. She pulled out the cloth again, the smiley-face stitched in the corner unmoving as the cotton blotched red. Sakura faced her mentor. "What's your plan now?"

Kotetsu rested his mace on his shoulder and cocked his head. "Evacuation's just about finished and Izumo's running a perimeter before we guard the bunkers." He jutted his chin out at her. "I'd tell you that genin aren't supposed to be out on their own per protocol, but... what have you been up to?"

He launched three shuriken at a sound-nin halfway to heel-kicking Sakura down from behind, and she leaned to the side to avoid the light specs of blood that showered.

"Went through some of the enemy, found out Suna's part of the attack and that jounin are after most of them," she reported. Kotetsu swore under his breath. Why the hell did Suna go and breach the treaty? "Last I heard, there's a commotion— _springboard_."

Kotetsu braced one hand on the hilt of his weapon and the other on the body as Sakura flipped and propelled herself off his mace only to come down on two enemies in a rain of chakra-thrumming steel. He ducked a punch of a third assailant and crushed most of their body with the conch.

"Six. Seven," he heard. He hunched slightly at the sound of it.

He... He knew he shouldn't be so nonchalant about this. Any of this. The village was under attack and in ruins and he needed to go to his assigned bunker to help guard the civilians, but he couldn't help but worry about _Sakura_.

She'd shown up and he treated her as a comrade rather than a student, trusting her to take care of her own opponents while he went after his own.

Sakura was a genin who just killed five shinobi in front of him. Easily. And maybe she only used the moves he taught her and employed the strategies he'd drawn out himself and asked her to study, but the moment he realized her level of efficiency—

 _Sixteen dummies exploded into straw and stuffing at the same moment and scattered around Sakura's feet. She was still in the midst of her carnage with her blade held like an extension, crouched, and her feet three shoulder widths apart._

 _Her hitai-ate was firm around her eyes as she slid back into standing position and sheathed her katana with a silent_ click _._

 _Kotetsu sat quietly on the grass. He... didn't expect her to pick up the combo so easily, not when he showed her only three days prior. And sure, maybe prodigies like Hatake Kakashi could've picked up something like this within twenty four hours, but she..._

 _He shook his head. She had practically lived on the training field the last three days, repeating the technique over and over until she was satisfied, which she never seemed to be. On the first day, she would go through the motions. When he left for gate duty, he walked away with the sound of air whistles and cracking trees in his midst. He returned to the training grounds eight hours later to make sure the grounds were cleaned up_ — _because she wouldn't have stayed eight more hours in addition to the five she'd already been there because she must have some level of self preservation_ — _but unfortunately, he'd been proven wrong._

 _The field was unrecognizable with the number of cuts it suffered and the surrounding trees looked as if the top layer of bark had been peeled away._

 _And there was Sakura. Hairs stuck out her stern bun, she stood with shaking muscles, her sweat-doused skin shone in the faint moonlight._

 _And yet, she prepared for another combo._

 _"Time?" she asked. Kotetsu drifted out of his musings and glanced down at his stopwatch._

 _"Two point fifteen seconds. Trust me, kid, you're not gettin' below two secs with that series. It's not meant to be done." He reset the stopwatch. "Besides, you've got this one nailed down to the last microscopic detail. You're golden, and no, you're not gonna argue with me about it. You're not gonna win that one." She shut her mouth and he imagined her rolling her eyes from behind her blindfold. His tone softened. "You did a good job, Sakura. Take a break. C'mon."_

 _She sighed and slipped the hitai-ate off her face. She didn't re-tie it on top of her head, rather, she stuffed it into her back pouch and proceeded to collect the dummy remains._

 _Kotetsu twirled the stopwatch by its cord and let it wrap around his fingers before he unwound it and twirled again. So, the kid might be a little insane. Or a perfectionist. Driven? Either way, her discipline was off the charts._

 _It wasn't really a weird thing to see in a shinobi. Just a weird thing to see in a rookie genin._

 _"So what's your goal?"_

 _Sakura inspected a bundle of straw before tucking it under her arm. "Goal?"_

" _Yeah, like, what do you want to get out this training, how much do you want to rank up_ — _you know, things like that. What's your deal?"_

 _She turned towards him with the cold, intense stare he didn't think he'd ever get used to. "I will be an exemplary shinobi, or I will be nothing at all."_

"Eight."

A body slipped free from Sakura's kusari-fundo, a chain imprint stark against the skin of their neck.

"A commotion in the forest outside the wall," she went on like she'd never been interrupted in the first place. "I think a lot of my year mates went after the Kazekage's children. I'm looking for anyone trapped beneath debris or civilians that might have missed the evacuation." She glanced at the bodies. "Do you want me to stay?"

Kotetsu had never been much of an eye-catching shinobi, but he tried his best. He upheld his duty to his village, never looked upon it with disdain, always trusted his superiors, was loyal to his Kage. He knows he's not the strongest or the weakest and maybe did guard duty more often than not, but he was a career chuunin, and he was content. There was no 'aim for the stars' for him; he was where he was, and he wouldn't be changing that for a long time.

But when he looked at Sakura, he didn't see that. With everything she did and everything she proved to him, she didn't need to strive to be an exceptional shinobi.

She already was one to him.

So, he could tell her to stay by his side as a genin should at least abide by the order of a chuunin and they could stand guard by the bunkers until they pushed back the siege.

Or.

"Go do your thing, kid." He waved her off with a grin. "Put that training to good use."

Because honestly? Sometimes protocol could get fucked.

::

Kiba unzipped his jacket, bearing his kikai-covered torso. The ones hidden in Akamaru's fur wriggled out like swollen fleas as Tenzo spread out files he'd dug out from the cabinets. Uchiha Itachi, Uzumaki Kushina, Namikaze Minato, Yakushi Kabuto...

 **9 MINUTES**

"Copy as quick as you can," Kiba ordered. The beetles spread their wings and took off towards the files and the open bottle of ink the ANBU popped open. "Get the account books too. Mission logs, old reports, we want it."

"Specific dates?"

"Around Itachi's and Orochimaru's defections, Kyuubi attack, uh, public political bullshit like that." He darted between the packed shelves. "Oh f—our team mission too! 'Cause I know _damn_ well they're full of shit!"

A wooden plaque caught his eye.

 _RESTRICTED SECTION_

Kiba ran in.

 **8 MINUTES**

Seals, seals, seals—where the hell were all the books on seals? He pulled out a weighted volume with a blank spine and flipped to the foreword; nothing but an introduction on how chakra molded into fire jutsu.

Growling, he shoved it back into its spot and gazed at the hundreds of title-less books that stuffed the shelves.

"Fuck," he muttered. "This is gonna _suck_."

 **7 MINUTES**

 **6 MINUTES**

 **5 MINUTES**

 **4 MINUTES**

"Kiba, we need to go," Tenzo called from one of the aisles. All the copies he'd made he bound with twine and sealed inside a small pocket scroll. He scurried to slip the files back into their spots and and the books and journals back onto the shelves, painstakingly arranging them to look as they'd never been touched in the first place.

In the restricted section, Kiba yanked out a pitch black tome. The spine bore nothing, but the first page written in old, splotchy ink read: _An Anthology of Theories and Forbidden Practices of the Sealing Arts._

 _'Holy shit.'_

"Kiba!"

"I know! I just need t—"

 **3 MINUTES**

"We don't have—"

"But this book—"

"Our exit—"

"Up the vents through the northeast quadrant, I know! I'm the one who mapped our route!"

 **2 MINUTES**

He wouldn't be able to find the pages he needed. Not with how little time they have left. But the book? It could be the answer to their problems, their first step to freedom, another middle finger to rub in Danzo's and Hiruzen's faces.

This information could be priceless.

They could own _themselves_ again.

Kiba shoved down the urge to scream. "Fuck it."

He jammed the text into his jacket and dashed up to the vents to pry the grate off. In went Akamaru, then him, and Tenzo brought up the rear and shut and bolted the grate back on with a quick flare of chakra.

They dropped out through another secret entrance under an awning at the back of the building and ran until they were out of the Tower's zoned area. A block out from the hospital, they stopped by the dumpster of an evacuated restaurant.

Kiba slumped against the grimy wall and braced himself with his hands on his knees. "And I used ta' think finding that lab would be the most fucked up think we've done," he panted. "But noooooo, let's do this during an actual invasion when the _actual_ Orochimaru's here!" The back of his head banged against the wall. " _Ugh_."

A firm hand planted itself on his shoulder, and he raised his eyes. "I'll be back in contact in two days," Tenzo said. Kiba couldn't tell his exact expression behind that mask, but he vowed to be able to do it one day. "Lay low. Stay safe."

And he was gone.

Akamaru sniffed at the spot he'd left and found no detectable trace. Like every good shinobi, huh?

He barked.

"Yeah, the team already knows the blockers and overloaders," he said. Kiba blew out another breath and stood up straight. "I'll teach 'em the erasers later. We gotta head to what, fourth floor window? Let's go."

He crinkled his nose as he took a scent check of the surrounding area and almost immediately grimaced. Blood, sweat, and ash reigned thick in the air, diluting any apparent smell and lowering his detection rate. He clicked his tongue. Everything else was already annoying, why did that have to add on to it?!

But he could whine about it later, especially if Sakura and Shino were there to hear it. He took one last whiff around him, testing the waters, and bolted quickly and as silently as he could manage on the barren streets.

The hospital was half a block away now. A third of a block. A fourth of a block.

He could smell them before he saw them. Rice paddies and cane sugar, owl feathers and the bitter cold.

Akamaru transformed as his nails sharpened and his pupils shrunk. " _GATSUUGA_!"

He razed through two sound-nin before their soles could even scrape the ground. Red smothered him upon impact and Kiba pressed his lips together when it tried to leak into his mouth. The blood was warm against his scalp and thick in his hair, and he wiped it off his face with the back of his hand.

"One. Two," he murmured. The hospital was in his sights, but there was no open window. Eyes narrowed, he lingered near the meeting point and tried to peer through the tinted glass. "C'mon, Shino, c'mon..."

A strained bark rang in his ears and the kikaichu in his jacket buzzed as an arm came out and around his neck. A cough erupted from his lips as he was lifted in the air and a kunai dug into his side, but his hand reached into his jacket and pulled the tome to the other side of his body. He couldn't get any blood on it, there couldn't be any _evidence_ —

White blurred past his face and latched onto his attacker's neck. He tossed his head over his shoulder in time to see Akamaru tear out the shinobi's throat in one jerk of his jaw, dropping the flesh and muscle onto the ground with a resounding _slap_.

He growled. _One_.

"Good boy," Kiba muttered. The clack from above had them both craning their necks up at the fourth floor window sliding open, and he wasted no time grabbing Akamaru and running up the side of the building to tumble through. A snide remark hot on his tongue, he was ready to nag Shino about clocks and how they worked until he looked up.

"Sakura?" He blinked. "The hell're you doin' here?"

"Shino was taken out on the field," she answered. Sakura eyed the blood caked in his hair, the growing wet spot on his side, and the string of muscle hanging from Akamaru's jaw. She frowned. "So this is what it's like to not be the most injured one on the team."

"Yeah, sucks, don't it?"

"Probably not as much as that wound in your side. Did you get stabbed?"

"Like, a lil'." He gazed around the room from his seat on the floor and spotted the cleaning supplies lined neatly in the metal case along one of the walls. "Janitor's room, huh? Couldn't be more original?"

She shrugged. "If it ain't broke." She plucked a few paper towels from the shelf as she reached into jacket to press it into his wound to at least staunch the bleeding before they made their escape back out in the hall. But, her arm brushed against something that felt a little like heavy cardboard. Her face darkened. "What did you take?"

Kiba swallowed. "It's... It's about seals. I found it too late an' I couldn't just—"

The look she gave him cut him off. Her eyes, that shade of ice green, searched his for a long while as she held the paper towels to the hole in his side.

It felt like two eternities before she spoke.

"I trust you," she said. She brought his hand over to apply the pressure on his own and helped him stand. "Make sure no one sees it."

The grin that split his face was blinding. "Psh, who dya' think I am?"

::

The moment Orochimaru saw the reaper for himself, the taste of bitter defeat starts to creep along the back of his throat. Hiruzen's hands were iron shackles on his shoulders and the reaper's skeleton-thin finger dug in somewhere past his collarbone through his biceps.

"Go on, sensei," he gritted out. The sword though the old man's chest drips like sand through an hourglass. He was running out of time. There was nothing more he could do, and for Orochimaru—that _livened_ him. "Let me go once and for all."

"I... will not allow your ambitions to go along any farther!" the Hokage growled. Orochimaru couldn't help but raise a brow at that and, despite the fact that he could no longer feel his arms or that he was beginning to understand the implications behind it, he grinned. He grinned because this man still couldn't see that he'd been deceiving others for so long that he probably couldn't tell when he started to deceive himself as well.

"My ambitions?" Orochimaru repeated, then laughed. "A forbidden jutsu and a few dead children did not bring Konoha to what it is today. That's a Kage's job, and it's wonderful to know you've done so _well_."

He choked at the pull of his soul, the reaper's unbreakable grasp, and the phantom blade that poised to cut the use of his arms off from his body.

"Sakura-chan was so small when I met her for the first time. Cowering behind a murderer, trotting around like only kindness existed in the world," he said. Hiruzen's head sprung up. "Her father thinks so much of her, and I thought I would do her a favor by showing her just how much the world hates its shinobi."

"Sa... Sakura...?"

"I don't know what you've done to them, sensei, but I saw my own hatred of this place in their eyes. It was magnificent, like some ethereal beauty." The skin of his hands grew splotched as the last of the life was drained from his arms. His anger soared, but so does his sadistic satisfaction as Hiruzen collapsed to his knees, the _Shiki Fuujin_ slowly taking its toll. "Thank you for doing my job for me, sensei, because even _I_ could not teach how to hate so thoroughly as they do."

Hiruzen couldn't stop his eyes from falling shut, but he fought for just a few more moments. He had so many questions and not a single answer for them all, but one thought waded through the haze of his mind. A single one.

" _You disrespected them by letting them be taken and you did it a second time when you left them to_ _ **rot**_ _. Did you even know their names?!"_

"Orochimaru… did… did you ever learn… the names of… those… children you… killed?"

"The ramblings of a dying fool are always incoherent," Orochimaru hissed. "Those children were tally marks on a cell wall. What do you take me for? A saint?"

It was getting dark.

" _We memorized their names. Why? Because they deserved to be remembered by someone. The least they could've gotten were graves or a mention in a solemn speech, but even then, they had none of that. Their families to this day are left wondering and you couldn't even muster the decency to tell them that their children are dead and you set their murderer free. Do you think he's still experimenting to this day?_ **I** _do, and I know it's your fault."_

"Ah… what a shame…" he whispered. His eyelids fell a bit further. "Neither did I."

The last thing he saw was the mirage of a young boy. His skin was pale, his eyes were yellow, and Hiruzen remembered the warmth in his chest when he knew he couldn't wait to see that boy grow into a proud shinobi.

::

Akamaru knew that humans were a little funny sometimes, so much so that there were still times he couldn't completely understand them. Like now.

It was raining when he and pack walked down the street, and it was like everyone decided to wear the same shade of dark gray.

His partner wore another one of his fur-lined jackets, but a darker one this time, with the hood flipped up and three small scrolls over the bandages around his stomach. Shino didn't have his normal coat either, but something that looked rougher and had the rain sliding right off. And Sakura just had on a long sleeve the same color as her normal pants. She didn't look like she minded the rain.

But wouldn't she get cold?

Akamaru asked what color they all had on.

"Black," Kiba answered. "It's the color you're s'pposed to wear for funerals."

Oh, right. For the Sandaime's burial.

Akamaru huffed as he trotted alongside pack. He wished they didn't have to go.

"You could have worn something over your attire, Sakura," Shino mentioned. "Why? You'll get sick from the rain."

"If Ame citizens got sick from the rain, the village would've collapsed on itself decades ago," she said. "I think they've adapted to it, especially since half their shinobi started to utilize re-breathers rather than bothering with cloaks."

"... Is your shirt waterproof, at the very least?"

"Of course."

"Then I suppose I could save your lecture for another occasion."

Kiba rolled his eyes and knocked her with a shoulder. "You've got, like, two of my jackets back at your place."

"And they're very comfortable."

Akamaru hated that their banter died down the closer they got to the ceremony. Their voices were his favorite ones to hear. They lulled him to sleep, made him laugh, kept him safe. The village couldn't do that, or the clan, or Tsume-sama, or Hana-nee, but _them_.

Pack.

He didn't listen much at the service, and he honestly felt no need to. Memorial services were a place to honor those who deserved it. There was no honor here. And the only deserving as far as he could see was the death by the hand of the student he couldn't bear to kill.

Pack had no choice but to attend with the main group atop the Hokage Tower, but they made sure to arrive at least ten minutes to the start so they could fill up the back space, hidden in the throngs of silent, black-clothed shinobi.

Naruto was up in the very front, with his bright blond hair one of the few colors Akamaru could see as a blemish against the dark background.

His partner had to try so hard to look interested and both Sakura and Shino were lucky they'd gained a reputation for not having any expression at all. They stood, and watched, and waited for an hour before attendees began the line to lay a single white flower at the shrine.

His pack made sure to prick their hands on the thorns and smother the stems in their blood before retreating to the back. They passed Kurenai-sensei who stood beside Iruka in the second row, and when Akamaru glanced up at her, she granted them all a small, somber smile before facing forward.

The sun crept over the clouds about an hour after that, and as the attending shinobi slowly trickled out bit by bit, not one of them noticed how a group of three and a nin-dog hung back. The shrine would be up for a whole day for anyone to come and pay their respects in private, but under an easy, blue sky on a rooftop filled with no one, Team Eight took the opportunity to approach the shrine.

Kiba took out those three scrolls and handed one to Sakura and Shino. Almost in unity they unraveled them and summoned a single flower from a single seal, Akamaru watching from the side.

First Shino, then Sakura, then Kiba.

Aconite, orange lily, petunia.

 _Hatred and warning, pride and disdain, resentment and anger._

And as they buried the flowers among the sea of white, Akamaru bared his teeth and spared the Sandaime one last thought.

 _'Burn in hell, Sarutobi Hiruzen.'_

::

The day after the funeral, Team Eight was summoned to the council room.

Councilwoman Utatane Koharu was straight-backed as she regarded the genin before her, surveying their closed expressions and their polished form.

' _How interesting,'_ she thought, _'to see military prowess shining through such untried bodies.'_

"The late Sandaime had issued a decree shortly before his passing," she announced. Koharu eyed them meticulously. "Anyone passing within the first 12 hours of the second section of the chuunin exams is to automatically sanction the ascension of chuunin rank. And since only one team had succeeded and had not been eliminated on the count of disqualification due to willingly attacking the hosting village, we as the council have decided to elect it. Congratulations."

Inuzuka Kiba was the first to crack at the news and openly baulked, blinking rapidly and gaping like some fish. Aburame Shino was confused, understandably, but didn't hold as an outwardly extreme reaction as his teammate.

But Sakura was unmoved. "If I may ask, who else gained rank, Utatane-sama?"

"You may, and your peer Nara Shikamaru after his display at the finals," she said. "But of course, with new rank comes new responsibilities, such as aiding your village in its cause for reparations. Sacrifices need to be made for the betterment of the whole."

Something shifted in the team. Their muscles coiled in anticipation.

"After discussing your performance in previous missions, the obstacles you've encountered and overcome, we as the council have decided that your proficiency should allow the success of this mission. There are no other available bodies to undertake this mission, so you understand the village's course of action should you not return, yes?"

The implication didn't sink in for them all, but Sakura held her arms firmly to her sides as she met Koharu's even gaze.

 _New chuunin are inexperienced, thus they are expendable._

"Yes, ma'am," she answered smoothly, ignoring the quick, anxious looks her teammates spared her.

The councilwoman tipped her head. "You are assigned your first B-rank, highly ranked for its requirements and should be no trouble for you." A scroll was produced in her hand and she offered it forward. Shino took it, and she paid no mind to the minute trembles in his fingers. "Nagi Island has experienced a series of civilian kidnappings and has reached out to us to help solve this problem. A senior shinobi will be assigned to lead your party, and all details you require are in this scroll. Memorize your information and meet your leader at the northern gates at 0600 tomorrow."

The three snapped to attention and bowed. "Yes, ma'am!" they chorused.

"Then you are dismissed."

::

" _Why_ are you doing this?!" Kurenai shouted. Only five seconds into stepping into her kitchen, sharp, victorious grins were wiped off three brand new chuunin. The seals around the apartment flashed blue before settling, and Sakura drew forward.

"Doing what?" She gestured to the illegal file copies strewn across the dinner table. "Surviving? Getting one step ahead? We're doing what we have to do, sensei," she sneered. Kiba's fists clenched as he glared up, but his hurt was unmistakable in the way his eyes glossed.

"You said you were on our side!"

"I am!" she insisted. "I will always be on your side, but—but look at what you're doing! What's happened! The consequences you've already suffered!" Kurenai jabbed a hand back at the files, the ash remains of that letter that had taken her whole world and flipped it on its head, and everything. Just, _everything_. "You're going to get yourselves killed!" She ran a hand through her frazzled hair. "The Sandaime is already dead, isn't that enough?"

And it was like the whole room just tilted on its axis.

Shino's eyebrows drew together. "Enough? Do you think Sarutobi Hiruzen was all there is to it? That just because he's gone, what's wrong is righted?" Slowly, he shook his head. "We did as you said, sensei. We made a list. He just happens to be the first one we got the chance to cross off."

Her eyes watered, and Kiba stumbled back until Sakura caught him around his middle to keep him balanced. Kurenai, in all the time they'd known her, had never once cried in front of them. Not when she watched them massacre Kusabi and his men, not when they buried those thirty-three children from civilian villages that died of a virulent strain, not when she learned Orochimaru himself had come after them.

"Please," she begged. "Please don't do this. I want to see you live, to become wonderful shinobi, to be _happy_. Please don't make this worse for yourselves, I—I don't want to see you all suffer more."

Shino forced his eye to the ground. Sakura was unfazed as she held herself in front of her team, face ever unchanging.

But it was Kiba that bit the inside of his cheek until it bled as he stood his ground. "We can't do that."

Kurenai sucked in a shaky breath. "Please," she whispered. Pleaded. "I don't want to bury my kids."

Her words struck something in Sakura that made her seize, and Shino stepped up to her other side and clutched her wrist like she'd done for him so many times before.

He shut his eye and breathed. "Then we won't bother you with this anymore, Kurenai-sensei."

Red eyes flashed in panic as she waved her hands before her in a frenzy. "No no no, that's not what I meant—"

"We won't stop. Ever," Sakura said, snapping out of her daze. Her posture took on a sharper edge, her shoulders pulled back and her chin held high. "We'll always have people after us, we'll always be suffering these consequences, we'll always try to survive. And this mission? We might not come back from it. We might not come out alive. Is that something you can live with?"

There was silence.

And it was a silence that went on for a few seconds too long.

Kiba bowed first. Then Shino. Finally, Sakura.

"Thank you for what you've done for us, Kurenai-sensei," Kiba thanked. "You were a great genin sensei. Now that we're chuunin, you don't needta' bother with us anymore."

He wanted to say more. There was nothing else he wanted more in that moment but to yell, to scream, to ask her why, why, _why_?

But his voice was already so hoarse and his throat was closing up.

Tears sprung to the corner of her eyes when they stood back up without a single glance her way. Shino's foot shifted, and for a moment, it was as if he was debating something, but he simply turned and retreated from the apartment.

Sakura wasn't far behind as she followed without preamble, gathering the files in one motion and tucking them at her side. Akamaru, drooped and whining, trailed by her calves as her silent footsteps guided her out.

Kiba lingered, though, and met Kurenai's leaking stare. No words formed on the borders of his lips; anger, upset, loss—he felt it all and none of it at the same time, and he was numb.

But nothing filled him up more than his own disappointment. It throbbed dully in his heart, but he didn't blame her. She didn't want to see them dead, and if this was what it took, then they'd give it to her.

(It didn't make it hurt any less.)

Tears collected in his own eyes, he left before she could see them spill over.

The front door shut.

Kurenai fell into one of her chairs, and cried.

Outside, Kiba rubbed his face with his sleeve and Shino dragged his feet. Sakura's eyes clouded over as they listlessly walked the long way to her apartment to prepare for their mission.

 _This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world._

Kakuzu's tenor reverberated clear in her ears, and it made her grimace.

 _'I might be fool,'_ she thought. _'But I'd rather be fool and die for this than to die for nothing at all.'_

::

When they showed up at the gates fifteen minutes prior to their meeting time, somber and worn, one person stood at the northern gates.

He turned when they were about a few meters away from him and offered the team a wide, fake smile with a face that might only be a year or so older than theirs.

"Hello," he greeted tonelessly. It was a horrible contrast to the way his muscles pulled his lips upward. "My name is Sai. I will be your leader for the duration of this mission."


	33. Lion on a Leash

" _I'm gonna kill him_."

Sakura brought a hand to her forehead and tried to stave off the oncoming pain. Eighteen hours into their first mission as chuunin and they were granted their first break, and honestly, she didn't know how Kiba had yet to burst a vessel.

"No, you won't."

"I swear to god, if that fucker calls me that _one more time_ —"

"Mutt, Foreigner. Are you ready to continue to travel?"

She exhaled and dropped her hand. And there was the headache.

" _Stop callin' us that_!" Kiba snapped. "We have names! Kiba!" He gestured wildly to himself. "Sakura!" He pointed at his friend beside him. "Shino!" An arm flailed in the general direction his other friend had gone to run a perimeter. "Akamaru!" He motioned to his partner growling at his feet. "Use! Them!"

Sai smiled the same, bland smile that never seemed to leave his face. "It states in _Traits of a Good Leader_ that a leader must try to bond with his teammates. I had been confused on the aspect of 'bonding', so I researched the term in _Ways to Approach Others_ , and it suggested using nicknames as an attempt—"

Kiba groaned and rubbed his eyes so hard he started to see stars. "This guy can't be real, right?" he muttered mostly to himself. "Like, he's messin' with us. He's gotta be messin' with us."

Sai continued to speak though his primary audience was no longer listening and Sakura stood silently with her arms over her chest. Their current leader, for lack of a better term, acted alien. Reading books to make up for social interaction? Not knowing what the word "bonding" meant outside its dictionary definition?

That was not a typical shinobi.

Shinobi needed to learn how to blend in and mingle, act like they'd been in one place for weeks when in reality they'd only appeared for a few moments. Shinobi were actors, deceivers, the background, and even with her bright pink hair she had no trouble slipping in a crowd and lurking in its shadows.

But Sai?

His rigid stance screamed suspicion and his expressions weren't right.

That was the first red flag.

Shino re-appeared in their presence with nothing more than a whisper as his insects crawled down from his face and back into his coat. "The area is clear and all our tracks within a kilometer radius have been covered up. We are set to move out."

"You competency is noted, Four-Eyes."

Silence.

Kiba bristled and Sakura narrowed her eyes, but Shino took a calming breath and faced their leader.

"I do not understand your penchant for nicknames, but it would be appreciated if you changed mine to something different. Why? It would be... appreciated, senpai."

Sai tilted his head to the side, but this time his eyes didn't get lost in the crinkle of his smile. His eyes were as dark as they were flat, and he granted his subordinate with nothing more than an empty canvas of expression.

"It is merely a nickname," he said. "Nothing I say should bring any form of discomfort. A chuunin should be stronger than that, wouldn't you say?"

Shino swallowed and turned his head.

Rage blazed through Kiba like a fire in a forest, but before he could even open his mouth Sakura was across the clearing with a fist in Sai's shirt and their noses almost touching as she dragged him up to the tips of his sandals.

"All Shino's asking for is a new nickname, nothing that requires more than two seconds of thought on your part," she stated coolly. "I believe you'll find that your text on leadership probably lists that empathy is a desired trait, and changing your nickname for him is a good first step to take, _wouldn't you say_?"

Sai steadily met her gaze. "Ah, I see. How insightful, Foreigner. I suppose I haven't gotten to that chapter yet." His smile widened. "Though I will have to ask you to release your team leader, or it might be most unfortunate that I will have to pull rank."

"And what rank is that?"

"Currently, higher than yours."

Sakura eyes lit in challenge, but she set him down without another word and briefly squeezed Shino's shoulder before her arms crossed back over her chest.

Sai's expression never moved a centimeter. "We will travel non-stop for another two hours before we stop for camp. Another two days of travel after that and we will be at the docks to board the next boat to Nagi Island. From there, we will discuss the details of this mission. Are there any questions?"

With no answer but the feeling of four burning stares, he turned around.

"Then we will resume."

::

When Kisame took off his shirt and bared the ink on his left shoulder blade, Konan barely contained her surprise when she took to inspect it. Orange nail polish clashed against blue skin as nimble fingers prodded at the seal.

"So, I got caught up in a few things with Orochimaru while I was gone," Kisame sighed.

"It's in a mitsudomoe design, one I believe that calls its resemblance to the sharingan."

"Che. Wouldn't put it past the fucker t'have some weird Uchiha fetish." He rolled his eyes. An irritating feeling flares just beneath his skin, and his hand twitched with the urge to scratch at it. Konan blankly traced the movement. "Whaddya' think?"

She focused back on the seal, simply enough at its surface design with what she knew had a complex sequence layering beneath it. Orochimaru had always been peculiar about seals, and she hated to admit that he might have been the best seal master they'd had in the Akatsuki until his timely defection. The expertise had thus fallen onto both her's and Sasori's shoulders since, though she wouldn't go as far as to dub herself an expert.

"I had some insight to the formulation and practices Orochimaru employed in the past," she said. "He was quite interested in seals providing an increase in both chakra levels and physical ability." The sliver of chakra she sent through the seal reacted in a sudden branching out of ink. What was once a simple circlet now spanned across the shoulder like black fire crawling up from the depths. Kisame glanced at her with a tick in his brow. It must have stung. "And speaking from observation, there is a likely chance that Orochimaru has his seals containing both his own chakra and a part of his consciousness. The latter is not unheard of for such complicated, controlling seal work."

His lips pulled back in distaste. "Don't need the first two, and the third's another one of his sick perversions, so can I get this damn itching to stop or am I gonna have ta' shred it off with Samehada myself?"

"No need to resort to such measures, Kisame-san." The kunai she whipped from her thigh pouch dragged along her thumb and she began to write on his skin in her blood. "The _Fuuja Hoin_ should keep the mark at bay." The seals continue down his back and down onto the floor to spiral around him. "It will only work if the will of the recipient fights back against the mark."

Scoffing, he eyed the seal placements along his floors. When was the last time he mopped? "I ain't an S-class rogue if I get doped up on some steroid-junkie seal. Won't be a problem."

As the seal completed, Konan's hands flew through a series of signs that ended in the rat form, and Orochimaru's seal screams a red-orange hue as her blood bleeds into its layers, flooding the matrix and raising invisible chains to clamp at the ends of each sequence.

Kisame's muscles contracted harshly at the pain that seared up his nerves, but he was calm while the mark was enclosed in a brand new seal that reached out in six different directions like some spindly, misguided star. He barely resisted the urge to flop onto the couch and groan in relief when the itch _finally_ faded.

"Thanks, Konan-san. Thing's been botherin' me for days."

Konan strode over to the kitchen and pulled out the first aid kit she knew was in one of the cabinets. Never one to wind her way around words, she asked, "What were you doing in Konoha?"

"Business." He picked up his shirt from the back of the couch and walked up to the kit. "And somethin' I needed ta' attend to myself."

She couldn't help the minute frown that crossed her face.

Kisame was never the same since he'd lost Sakura. Sure, he was still cautious in battle and never ran onto the field with a blindfold and a death wish, but he'd grown wearier. Disappeared on his own more often. Gone subdued.

Yet, there were still things that never budged over the years: that he'd visit his wife's grave at least twice a week when he could, that he stuck to his principle of never harming or killing kids, that he never turned his back on those he considered his comrades.

But she worried about him from time to time, and as she watched him swipe a wide bandage, peel off the plastic, and slap it on the seal, her brow raised. "You don't want anyone to know what Orochimaru had done."

"More like I don't want anyone t' know I was even near that bastard ta' begin with." He glanced up at the ceiling, considering. "Or that I was anywhere near Konoha when it went up in flames. I'll let it blow over, but 'til then, nothin' 'bout this seal's gettin' out."

"Does Leader-sama know?"

And Kisame just gave her the _look_.

She took it with her usual inexpression but an old understanding ran between them, bone deep and warm, and they both knew she wouldn't mention anything to Pein unless it came up explicitly.

She shut the kit and stowed it away. "Then are you alright?"

"Alright 'bout what?"

"Everything."

Quiet settled over the apartment as he slipped on his shirt, rain gently pelting against the windows.

"When I find out, I'll let you know."

::

The next ship to Nagi Island didn't set sail for another twenty-four hours, leaving Team Sai stranded at the ports until the ship docked.

"So, like... can we just hang out around the city 'til then?" Kiba asked. "I mean, it's not a good place to talk about the mission and we'll be on the boat for another five or six days or somethin'. We won't get a jump on anythin' anyways."

Sakura stared out at the expanse of ocean and how the sun bounced off its rippling surface before turning back to her team.

"You may do as you please as long as it does not hinder the mission," Sai allowed with a smile. "We will be meeting back at the docks at 0430; lateness will not be tolerated."

"And where will you be?" Shino questioned. There was no accusation underlying his tone though his throat was coated in it, and he wondered if his dark lenses offered any sort of unsettlement. He knew it did for others.

"I will see you at 0430." Sai acknowledged each of them, "Mutt, Foreigner, Dog, Glasses."

He disappeared.

Kiba scoffed and scratched the back of his head. "What a dick."

Akamaru barked in agreement.

Sakura nearly rolled her eyes and pinched his cheek, ignoring his startled yelp. "You only have to deal with him for the mission or if anything comes up before that." She dropped her hand and turned away from his pouting face. "Now, lunch?"

They decided on some restaurant with a fried food-stuff specialty which happened to have a 20% off all menu items between 11 am to 4 pm on Mondays to Fridays, not that Sakura noticed.

(But she absolutely did.)

They settled themselves at one of the indoor booths, Sakura and Kiba on one side, Shino and Akamaru on the other.

Sakura propped her katana up beside her, light spilling onto her arm from the window they were sat against as she looked up at Shino. "Kikai?"

He grimaced and shook his head. "There was never an opportune time for a plant. Why? Our team leader is too cautious. He does not trust us, and frankly, the feeling is mutual."

Kiba groaned and sunk into his seat and Sakura hummed thoughtfully as she glanced out the window. The server came to set the glasses of water along with some menus at the table, but at the sight of Akamaru they retreated with the last glass and came back with a bowl of water instead.

"Thank you," Sakura bid politely. The server grinned and said they'd be back in a few minutes for their orders, and once their back disappeared somewhere in the front, Kiba slammed his hands on the table.

"So the dude's fuckin' with us, right? 'Cause no one's that socially constipated and the only person in this damn world who doesn't know how to talk to someone normally is _Sakura_ —and she's not even that bad!"

She squinted at him from over her menu as she took a vial of murky black liquid and poured a drop in her drink. She swirled her straw, her drink darkening for a moment, then noted that it cleared up.

"You have a point."

"'Course I gotta point, 'cause if that dude wasn't born under a rock, then he's straight crazy."

Shino screwed off the cap of his own vial after dropping the poison indicator in his and Akamaru's water and mixed. "Or the mind has been corrupted."

"Which it has," Sakura said as she turned a page of her menu. This restaurant really wasn't kidding about their fried foods. Especially when it was the only thing they served. "And one we'll deal with accordingly once it decides to act on its influence."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then we do nothing." There was another turn of page. "We aren't strong enough, and we'll act when we are."

Shino spied the faint reflection of his frown through the laminated menu and held in a sigh. He didn't need to take off his glasses to know the skin above his cheekbones were dark and tired—when was the last time he'd gotten an easy, few hours rest? Just before the exam finals?

"I understand that weaknesses are meant to be overcome through trials and time; the former we have an overabundance and the latter we will never have enough of." This time, he sighed. "My main focus is my clan jutsu and healing, and if I want to excel in such practices, it will leave me susceptible to other factors such as genjutsu and stamina."

Kiba rubbed the back of his neck. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't worried about the same thing. Seals took time and so did practicing coordination with his partner, and he'd never been good with brain things like genjutsu. How was he supposed to get good at something like that when he had other priorities?

Sakura waved off their concerns, eyes still glued to the menu. "Try your best but don't worry about being the best. Where you all struggle, I will make up for." Her eyes glanced up. "We're a team, and if I can't support you both where the enemy strikes, what good am I to you?"

There was no humorous undertone to her words nor an exasperated roll of her eyes telling them that it was something she expected them to already know, but she was as blunt and unconcerned as she always was, unapologetic in her stances and leapt to their defense regardless of the conditions.

Sakura was their pillar.

(And she would never let them fall.)

"Aw, you _care_ ," Kiba teased, waggling his eyebrows at her terribly unimpressed face. "Look at you, growin' up and havin' feel— _ack_!"

She jabbed his ribs without even looking up.

"Mean." He opened the menu to its first page, stopping short at first item. "... Fried butter's a thing?"

"Don't you dare."

" _Fried butter_ —"

"If you put that in your body you better hope your clogged arteries will kill you before I do so myself. Do you not think me capable? Because I will. Why? Because I can."

The server wound back around to their table with a ruffled pad in one hand and a pen in the other. "I can take your orders if you're ready."

Sakura closed her menu. "One deep fried apple appetizer and the calamari bowl, please." Shino took it from her and stacked it beneath his.

"The deep fried eggplant bowl, please."

"And a deep fried tenderloin sandwich plus an extra tenderloin for my partner," Kiba said. He and Shino handed the menus over. "Thanks!"

The server smiled and headed towards the kitchen, and as Shino watched them go from the corner of his gaze, he couldn't help but endure the growing somber feeling in his chest.

The pack at his feet might hold rations, spare clothes, and extra weapons, but his heavy coat hid the poison kit Tenzo gifted him and the scrolls that held his favorite books and his entire personal medical inventory.

Kiba had hidden scrolls on his person, too. They held his seals texts including the forbidden one, his favorite jacket, and red Inuzuka paint to last him a year.

And Sakura hid her own scrolls in her bindings. Her trivia books, a small frog keychain from Naruto, and Kubikiribocho lay wrapped in ink and paper while her apartment back in Konoha sat cleaned and immaculate.

If they returned, it would be to fresh sheets and clean bean bags.

If they didn't, then they'd die with everything they held dear.

There was quiet at the table for a few moments, nothing but the surrounding din of other patrons and the hiss and bustle of the open kitchen. Sakura's eyes were out the window, ever vigilant, Kiba had a dropped head in a palm as his fingers tapped against the table, and Shino closed his eye as he leaned back against the seat and breathed.

"Do you think we would have been... _happier_... had we not found out the things we did?" Shino questioned haltingly.

Sakura's gaze flickered away from the window in interest.

The corners of Kiba's lips tilted down and his fingers stilled. "... Maybe?"

"If you could go back—if you could change all the choices you made, would you?"

The fingers tapped again, slowly, softly, with no sense of pattern.

"No," he answered. "And yeah what's been happenin' is pretty shitty and yeah, sometimes I wish others would've found out 'bout all that stuff before we did 'cause someone before us musta' thought this shit _wasn't right_ —" Kiba bit his tongue and sucked in a deep breath to shove his rage back down his throat. "Point is, I hate it and it shouldn't be a thing. But..." He shrugged and rested his weight on his forearms. "But, I dunno. I don't think we woulda been pack if it all didn't happen, and you don't trade pack for anythin'. Not even the world."

The air around them warmed.

Sakura nodded at the server when they set a plate of fried apples on the table and took a slice, dipping it lightly in the caramel sauce it came with.

"And _I'm_ the sap," she remarked dryly. Kiba gnashed her teeth in her direction before grabbing a handful of slices to shove in his mouth and moved his legs out the way just in time to miss Shino's swift kick to his shins for the action.

But even Shino couldn't bury his face far enough in his coat to hide his smile.

Though no matter how bright the scene was in their ever-darkening circumstance, Sakura wouldn't allow herself to lose her head in the clouds. She couldn't afford to—not until she knew they would be safe.

Not until they were free.

And for that, she couldn't let them waver.

She steeled her gaze. "Are you sure this is the path you want to take?" She tapped the metal of the hitai-ate on her head, calling up their display of the accessory after drawing out the Uchiha Massacre scrap by scrap. The way they'd rushed out of the exam stadium was still fresh on the brain—how reporting to the village had been the last thing on their minds as they _stole_ from their own during one of Konoha's weakest moments yet. "Say we won't make it back, and if by chance we make it out of this alive, are you sure of your choice? Where you stand? What you would and won't fight for?"

Kiba lifted his head to meet Shino's steady gaze. It took only seconds for them to look back to her, all traces of jest drained from their faces and in its place the resolve they'd come so far to own.

"Someone has to take a stand against the wrongs no one admits," Shino said. "If it has to be us, then so be it."

Sakura chewed on her snack and considered each of their expressions. "Sharks start out as eggs, but they incubate and hatch in the womb," she started suddenly. Kiba's face scrunched and Shino reached for the apple slices. One for him, one for Akamaru. "Sometimes the number of pups that come out are less than the number of eggs fertilized, because once they hatch, the pups eat each other regardless of the blood they carry. They try to kill their siblings the moment they enter the world, viewing everything they see as nothing more than prey." She twirled her straw in her drink, but didn't take a sip. "Today, you've all made your positions clear. Despite living in a world of sharks and blood, the world will learn to be careful of us. I will make sure of it."

She let her words—her promise—sink in and allowed gravity to pull them from their ears to the pits of their stomachs. This wasn't a game they could back out of if they decided they didn't want to play anymore, and there was more at stake than just the lives Konoha could care less about.

For her, this was something she couldn't leave alone. Not when they were the only ones who knew why fifty-nine different children didn't get to grow up.

"Once, I was told that the sky is too vast for a person to live life alone," Shino murmured. "I didn't understand it at the time. Why? Perhaps I was too young, or I used to think there was nothing wrong with being on one's own." He glanced at Akamaru's wagging tail then at his friends across the table, his fingers curling around the fabric of his pants. "And despite the injustices we've witnessed, I'm glad I have ended up here, alive and with all of you."

"But if we can't do that..." Kiba breathed out a little laugh, both desperate and disbelieving as much as it was a bitter acceptance that hammered into his shoulders, refusing to let go. "Let's die together."

This was not the life Sakura wished for them.

But unlike her father, she would always give them the choice to stay or go.

(What she didn't tell them was how relief settled like sand in her bones when they didn't turn their backs on their beliefs—that the people who she'd grown to love wouldn't leave her behind this time.)

The server came back with the rest of their orders and all they could do was stare at the dishes for some moments, the exceptionally greasy foods slathered in sauce and served over huge bowls of rice staring straight at them.

Shino picked up his chopsticks and braved the first bite of the calorie monster bestowed upon him.

And almost immediately he slumped, already feeling cholesterol congealing in his veins and cringing at his medic side screaming about balanced diets. "This is delicious," he admitted morosely.

Kiba snickered and Sakura took a bit out of a ring of calamari with a quirk at her lips.

As Akamaru licked his chops and dug into his meal, his tail didn't stop wagging.

After all that, he knew he wouldn't stop loving pack for anything.

Anything at all.

::

When they'd boarded the Kaede Maru, they secured part of the lower deck to themselves and unraveled a map of the nations between their feet.

"The instances dubbed the 'Nagi Island Kidnappings' have all victimized civilians ranging from the ages ten to eighteen," Sai explained, pointing to an island on the map. "The first kidnapping has been reported a month ago and have continued since, taking those who've wandered too far from the village and eventually, taking the victims straight from their own homes. Seventeen total have gone missing thus far." He marks the west end of the island with a perfectly symmetrical 'x'. "Upon docking, we will travel to the next suspected village to apprehend the assailants: Sachiko Village. We will research the kidnapped and stand guard during the prime times of these kidnappings: 2200 and 0600."

Sakura's eyes flickered form the world map to the Nagi-specific map. "Do you have any current information on those taken?"

"Just names. Nothing substantial."

She glanced up at him, a careful blankness around her eyes as she felt Kiba tense like a spring beside her. "You don't think names are important?"

"Words hardly are."

Shino's hand latched around Kiba's wrist and kept him from launching at their temporary leader.

It was the second red flag raised and Sakura sighed, inwardly lamenting the fact they'd be stuck on the ship for the better of five days.

But the next morning found her staring into the ocean's rolling ways from the port bow, oddly enraptured by the clear blue hues and the absence of land for kilometers. Her father often spoke of waters like those, especially when he talked about all the sharks he knew and how there was no better feeling than losing yourself in the sun and the sea.

She turned her head upward. Sai sat on the foremast with a bound journal in one hand and a brush in the other.

He was... painting?

An image of wooden limbs and black pain flashed behind her eyes, a phantom of Sasori's cold artistry tainted with the obsession of the eternal.

Sai noticed her stare and smiled one of those rigid, plastic smiles. She inclined her head in acknowledgement before pushing herself off the railing and descending the stairs to the lower deck.

She wondered if she was the one to kill him, where would she bury the body?

The third day on the ship, Shino tested which poisons his kikai could devour while Akamaru whined pitifully from the warmth of his coat. While he wasn't necessarily the size of a 'medium' dog quite yet, the green coat that enshrouded him stretched slightly to accommodate two bodies—one shivering, one not.

Kiba sauntered over and crouched beside his friend to card a soothing hand through his partner's fur. "Seasick?"

Akamaru whimpered.

"More... uncomfortable on unstable grounds rather than bearing a sickness," Shino elaborated. Tens of tiny black beetles weave between his fingers and the vials on the floor sloshed, but never spilled. Of the eight poison compositions, four had been approved for immunity. "The healing chakra I administer every few hours helps, but it does not solve everything."

Kiba gave his partner one last reassuring scratch before he hiked himself onto one of the wooden boxes strewn about the bottom deck. "Just a couple more days, okay, bud? Then we'll be back on land." His feet kicked up to the stack of boxes beside him. "So Shino... whattya' think 'bout the temp?"

"My opinions on this authority don't matter. It's what he'll do and what he'll lead us to that will create my opinion of him." He raised his head, unimpressed. "But yet, due to his recent actions, I believe 'asshole' is an appropriate term to describe him."

Kiba barked out a laugh.

On the fourth day sailing steady waters as Sakura perched on the edge of the starboard stern with an eye to the water and Shino meditated in the shadows of the lower deck, Kiba ambled along the main deck with his hands in his pockets and his thoughts in the air.

He— _they_ knew the mission they were on was just another trap. How could it not? Their standings in the preliminaries and the interruption of the finals didn't qualify any of them for a bump in rank even with the Third's bullshit new rule about the second exam. So the moment they learned just how far off from Konoha they'd be for the next month or two, they'd taken the few things they'd miss, said goodbye to their teachers, their families—

His shoulders dropped.

Saying goodbye to Iruka was hard. Thanking Tenzo for everything was harder. Doing the same with his mom and Hana was almost impossible with how far he had to push down how scared he was that he might not ever seen them again.

And yeah, _of course_ he was scared. He could count all the times he'd almost been killed by his own village. He wasn't even a year into being proper shinobi! Who else had to worry about stuff like that? It shouldn't have been him, it shouldn't have been his partner, it shouldn't have been _pack_!

But it was. He couldn't change that.

And with what happened with Kurenai-sensei?

Kiba clenched his teeth when the backs of his eyes burned.

He was tired. _So, so tired._

His feet carried him up to the bow. The mermaid carved beneath it had her color stripped by sea water, her hands outstretched to cup a string of bronze pearls. And at the very tip of the bowsprit sat a figure in black.

With a bound journal in one hand and some sort of crayon in the other.

Kiba leapt onto the bowsprit and walked forward. "So you draw."

Sai's crayon paused, and when he turned to address his subordinate, it was the first time he did so without a smile on his face. "Is there something you want?"

"Turns out you still got hobbies even with that attitude, huh," Kiba huffed, pulling his hands out his pockets to cross his arms as a salty breeze wafted through. "That's a surprise."

"You do not have quite a pleasant look on your face," he replied blandly. "Perhaps with no one here to hold you back, you will finally be successful in lunging at me."

Pointed fangs gleamed that went to complete an amused grin. "Maybe." But as soon as that grin came, it left, and Kiba took another look at the open pages on their temporary leader's lap. "But I ain't here for that. Just came to check out your work."

Tension bunched beneath the skin of his shoulders. Small talk? "... I see."

"What're you makin'? Abstract?"

Sai said nothing, running his orange oil pastel in calculated curves on his paper. Black, blue, purple, green, red, orange bled together in a curling harmony and it looked pretty nice, even when Kiba could admit to himself that all he saw was a bunch of color.

"Got a title for it?"

Silence again, then, "I have nothing like that."

"What?"

"For all the hundreds of pieces I've made, I have never given one a title," Sai said. He switched his orange pastel for a dark blue one. "So this will not have one either."

"'Cause names are words and words hardly matter, right?" Kiba mocked with a slight sneer. Empty black eyes were still trained on him. "Things like that don't fly. Least you could do's _act_ normal, y'know?"

"And appreciating names will somehow lend credence to one's normality?"

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Well, your name's Sai, isn't it? Why wouldn't that matter if it's yours?" His arms dropped back to his sides and he started to walk off the bowsprit. "Nice drawin', or whatever."

Sai stared after him a little longer before blinking and facing back to his page.

On their last day on the _Kaede Maru_ , the only time Sakura spoke to Sai was when she walked up to him, a single question on the tip of her tongue.

"What kind of animal do you like the most?"

Confusion struck him speechless for a brief, rare moment, but he quickly processed the question. "Liking animals is not required for me, therefore I do not have one I 'like the most'."

"If you had to choose."

"Is there a purpose to this inquiry, Foreigner?"

Her eyes flashed the same way they did their first altercation, but a small smile accompanied the chill in her gaze. "Humor me."

Animals. He'd never considered them outside focuses of some of his pieces or as obstacles if they ever got in the way of his assignments, but to pick a favorite one.

His porcelain mask, tucked and hidden in the depths of his small pack, hazily breached his thoughts.

"Lions." His mouth moved before he could stop himself, and she tilted her head.

"Hm," she hummed. "I prefer sharks myself."

She brushed past him to speak to the ship's captain. His eyes trailed after her and her stern bun of bright pink hair. Of all the things that ran through his head that he would never let surface for anyone to see, he locked them away in the corner of his mind and turned away.

::

Sachiko Village was a village with tens upon tens of boats docked in the harbor, bobbing gently with the waves as loose coils of rope dangled off their edges and into the sea.

Team Sai docked at night when the streets were dark and haunted by ghosts, and they were silent phantoms when they thanked the captain and his crew for the journey while they slunk towards the only house whose lights bled through the covered windows.

Kiba rapped his knuckles twice on the door before it opened a crack and a middle aged woman peeked out at them.

"Yes?"

"We have arrived on your account," Sai started with the small finesse for conversation he had. "Are you Hano Sakiko, the mayor of this village?"

She opened the door only wide enough for them to see the surprise on her face. "I am her wife, Yasu," she introduced politely, acknowledging them with a short bow of her head. "She's inside. Please, come in. Your journey must have been a long one."

As Yasu stood aside to let them in, Sakura cast one last look at the quiet blackness of the village behind her before bringing up the rear as the last to enter the quaint home.

She didn't pay much mind to the insects that crawled against the shadows.

It was warm when she stepped in, only a bit stuffy compared to the cool ocean air that glanced against her skin and the tops of waves outside. There was a maroon couch they were ushered onto in the living room and pictures of weddings and picnics and memories boasted quietly on the walls as she sunk into a cushion, accepting the warm cup of tea Yasu gently pushed into her grip.

When the woman's back turned, three separate sets of hands flicked black liquid into their cups.

And Shino hesitated before he reached over and dropped the poison detector in Sai's cup as well, answering their temporary leader's stare with nothing more than a tilt of his head.

Kiba's lips pressed together and he said nothing.

Sakura decidedly observed the shadow hurrying down the hallway towards them instead.

"My apologies for making you all wait, I..." Hano Sakiko bustled into the room, pitch black hair pulled up in a high ponytail and bangs swept over her green eyes; bright, light, almost pastel. She blinked in surprise at finding four children in her living room— _children, why was it always children_ —but composed herself and cleared her throat. "I'm Hano Sakiko, mayor of Sachiko Village and the one who requested Konoha's services. Thank you for coming in our time of need."

Sai held the cup of tea chest level, arms bent, but made no move to drink it as his lips pulled up in a bland expression. "You may call me Sai. Please extend your information on these incidents."

"And I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and this is my partner, Akamaru," Kiba cut in, briefly side-eyeing their team leader.

"Aburame Shino," Shino intoned quietly.

"And I'm Sakura. It's a pleasure to meet you both." She jerked her head Sai's direction. "What senpai means to ask is if there's any more information you haven't disclosed in the mission description, and if there is, is it possible for you to share?"

Yasu took a seat beside her wife and grasps her hand as Sakiko sighs tiredly.

"The leaders of the other villages warned me of these kidnappings in our regular missives."

"You have correspondence with the affected villages on Nagi Island?" Sakura questioned.

"Of course," Sakiko replied. "On Nagi we're all on relatively amicable terms with one another and live in peace." She frowned. "Or, at least we try. These kidnappings sprang up suddenly, starting North and slowly following the coast line South, picking waterfront villages and it's feared we're next on that list."

"It's always children, too. The youngest reported had been ten and, the eldest eighteen. They'd been strong children, always speaking of wanting to travel to one of the mainlands to attend the Academies and become shinobi to bring pride to this small island," Yasu continued. Her free hand combed her blonde hair over her shoulder. "And there's been a surge of interest, you know, about wanting to be a shinobi."

"Why?" Shino asked curiously.

"Why what?"

"Why did they want to become shinobi?"

She shrugged a bit, a confused look in her calm eyes. "Why does anyone?"

He glanced away and towards the clock above the doorway. It was 1:14 am. "We apologize for our late arrival and, consequently, keeping you up as well."

"No, no, you're no problem at all," Sakiko smiled. She stood, gently squeezed Yasu's hand before letting go, and quickly gestured her guests up the stairs. "You all must want to rest after spending so long on a ship. I know I miss steady land when I take trips like those."

As they disappeared up to the second floor, Yasu cleared the cups off the low table.

And when she lifted the cup that pale boy held the whole time, she found the tea cooled and untouched.

Above, Sakiko led them to the two guest rooms they'd prepared for their arrival and left them with a promise of coming together once again in the later morning to continue their discussion. But before she could make her way back down the stairs, Sakura asked one more question.

"Has anyone else in the village been alerted of our arrival?"

Sakiko turned and smiled. "Not at all. I thought you would appreciate keeping your involvement as quiet as possible. Shinobi we've worked with in the past have always expressed their concern for it."

That being an accommodating action or having an ulterior motive, Sakura had yet to decide. So she kept her thoughts to herself and thanked their host before the team split into the rooms—Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and her to one and Sai to the other.

But as the doors shut behind them, their windows opened, and Team Sai converged on the roof under the cloudless moonlight.

Insects crawled out of the cracks and crevices of tan shingles to wind around Shino's outstretched finger. He brought one of them close to his face and tilted an ear to listen. "No suspicious activity as of yet. We are free to speak."

Kiba immediately fell into a crouch and propped his elbows on his knees. "So this village is gonna get hit next 'cause—what'd Sakiko-sama say? Kidnappers are goin' down the coast?"

Sakura's gaze trailed along the maps Sai started to lay down in front of them. "It adds up. They're most likely using the water as an escape route if they're keeping to the edges of the island."

"Yet the reason is unclear," Shino murmured.

"Human trafficking? Seems like they're goin' for types, though, and they ain't goin' for easy targets if they're pickin' up people wantin' to be shinobi."

"Women and children are typically sought after targets, as well as both men and women who can perform physically intensive labor," Sakura remarked. Her eyes swiped across the map once more. "But that isn't the criteria these kidnappers are going for. Strong, perhaps. Young? Non-docile? Willing to cause trouble? I suppose it would make sense if they're catering to a specific clientele."

Akamaru barked and a grin overtook Kiba's face. "Ya' got a point there. So we'll probably never know what's actually goin' down 'til we actually see for ourselves, right?"

Sakura cocked a brow.

"What you're suggesting would most likely be dubbed a 'last-ditch plan'. Why? Because of the chance of danger that comes with it," Shino drawled. "Do you not think there are more viable plans to try before that one?"

"What 'bout the chance we fuck up and more kids get taken?" Kiba replied. Shino tipped his head in consideration. "You heard Sakiko-sama—they wanted to be shinobi, so that means not all of 'em were. We can defend ourselves. They can't. So we should get taken instead, maybe see if we can get back those other kids."

It was near impossible to read the expression on Sai's face, but Sakura tried to anyways. His dark eyes flickered between her friends, his smile dropped as he kept oddly silent.

It was like Kakuzu on his usual days, killing without remorse and pulling out hearts to study. She could recall an instance when he'd held a fresh one up to the sun, muttering something about valves and aortas and connecting veins to veins as his critical eye would run over each and every fiber as if to deem them worthy.

Most of them weren't.

But, Sai's face never neared the ones Kakuzu wore in his rages, when his partners took a step too far and ended up nothing more than organs in a cooler to sell.

 _'Organ trade,'_ she mused to herself. _'That's an idea.'_

But then he finally spoke up. "Do you think it wise to put yourself in such unnecessary danger? Perhaps you overestimate your skill; could you truly shake a foundation when do you not know if it is made from straw or steel?" But unlike every other time, that _smile_ never resurfaced. He stared Kiba down unblinkingly, a perfect mask of indifference. "You would do well to keep to the mission, as it does not entail we do more than investigate."

"And _you'd do well_ ta' shut the hell _up_!"

Sakura leaned back against a hand as Kiba jerked to stand beside her and Shino exhaled quietly, taking a seat from his crouch. Akamaru's tail tucked between his legs.

"Least you could do's pretend you care!"

"Caring is not in the guidelines of this mission, and I have committed the mission detail to memory to perform at optimal capacity," Sai informed. He never blinked. "Perhaps this is the problem you have. We are not here to save those taken. We are here to prevent the kidnappings from continuing. That is this mission."

"They don't deserve that!"

"This is not about deserving. This is about fulfilling your duty."

" _Screw duty_!"

Sai was on his feet in a single smooth motion, and for the first time, their height difference was apparent when he pulled back his shoulders and his expression grew that more closed off.

Sakura hid a smirk behind her hand. Maybe not as indifferent as she first thought.

"And that's your whole fuckin' problem, ain't it? Duty this, mission that, do you even have your own head?!" Kiba hissed. "You don't give a shit! Not the team you're s'pposed ta' lead, not the kids gettin' taken, not even 'bout your damn self when you needed to look up what the hell a bond was! So what's your deal, huh? You too good for all this? _You too good to be a person_?!" He threw a hand out at the village. "People are goin' _missing_! What kinda heartless bastard do you gotta be ta' not wanna get any of 'em back? Ta' really stop everyone else from gettin' taken? Huh?! You tellin' me you're fine with this?!"

"What I want does not matter."

"Argh! You're so fuckin' annoying!"

Sai met his gaze evenly. "You do not have control over your emotions. This will be noted in the mission report."

" _You—_ "

"So that's all you'll live for?" Shino interrupted. He pulled himself up to his feet, moonglow in his glasses. "You're content to tell me that it doesn't matter who you are?"

"Who I am does not matter. What I think does not matter. The mission is what matters, and the mission will be followed." Sai talked as if he was reading off a script, each syllable pronounced just as long and measured as the last without a single inflection. "If you do not follow the mission, then your insubordination will be noted in the mission report."

"Oh, I'll follow the mission all right." Kiba strode forward until their faces neared, his stature leaving him to crane his neck upwards. "Just don't make a stupid decision and we won't have a problem. Easy 'nough for you, right, _senpai_?"

"Kiba," Sakura warned softly. He flinched slightly under the slight reprimand in her tone before he met Sai's eyes again, gritting his teeth and hunching his shoulders.

"I'll take the west end of the village. Take a look 'round, see if there's a weird scent or somethin'," he stated. Akamaru got to his feet and poised himself by his partner's shins. His wet nose wrinkled once before he sought Sakura's gaze, and the small smile she granted him unraveled some of the tension in his muscles. His tongue flopped with the grin he sent her way and he took off towards the other end of Sachiko.

Sakura looked back at the rest of the team. "I'll scout the south end. Maybe keep an extra eye west, just in case." She nodded to Shino, an _'I'll take care of it'_ sort of expression etched in the dark bags beneath her eyes. She then nodded at Sai. "Senpai. I'll take my leave and make sure Kiba knows we're to regroup at 0600."

She took off next, leaving two on the roof and not much more to exchange between them.

"... Kiba means well," Shino said. "It's just he can't understand how you can act so cold. Why? It's in his nature to do the right thing. I don't disagree with him myself."

"He clouds his judgment with emotions. There is no 'do the right thing' when one is a shinobi. It is 'do what is ordered'." Sai bent down to re-fold the maps left on the rooftop. "We are tools. We are meant to be used. We will die when our purpose is fulfilled."

"Perhaps." Shino tucked his hands into his pockets and his fingers knocked against glass, startling him for a moment. He pulled his hand back and stared at the vial of black liquid. A few seconds passed and he tossed it at his temporary leader who caught it between two deft fingers. "But why would you succumb to that when you know there's something more you can be?" He shook his head and faced east, kikai already creeping across his coat. "Make use of that poison detector if you wish. Everyone on the team has one."

He leapt off the roof, leaving one last figure to stand in the chill of the early morning air with a set of maps in one hand and a vial in the other.

(Water the mustard seed of doubt with understanding, and it will begin to sprout.)

The vial dropped from pallid fingers and shattered under the crushing weight of a foot.

::

When they were taken, it was around noon.

To the team's surprise, they were to cast the guise of the mayor's low-ranking shinobi nephew, Sai, and his equally low-ranking friends visiting for the week. Kiba didn't comment on how their temporary leader came up with the plan all on his own and tailored to the argument they had on the rooftop, nor did he mention anything when they were supposed to act their parts to get themselves kidnapped.

Sakiko protested the plan.

They didn't listen.

They practiced throwing weapons in open clearings in plain view of the civilians and Kiba persisted in being rowdier than usual. He and Sakura took to wrestling on the side roads while Shino and Sai practiced basic kata not too far off.

Some kikai tried to make themselves home hidden somewhere in the folds of their senpai's black clothes.

None of them had succeeded.

Thirty-six hours after their arrival, they started to feel eyes they couldn't see.

Seventy-two hours after their arrival, masked assailants in gray rained down and clamped metal collars around their necks.

Seventy-six hours after their arrival, Team Sai woke up in the hull of a rocking ship.

::

Sakura was the first.

Eyes snapping open, she lurched forward from her sprawled position on wooden planks, her motion lagging slightly from the cuffs and chains around her wrists and ankles. The metal, though dulled and scratched, held up despite her yanks to try and snap the binds.

"Enforced," she muttered.

"A mild inconvenience, I suppose you would say."

Sai dragged himself up and crossed his legs, the chains an unflattering clash against his skin.

"Inconvenient in the sense that these kidnappings are bigger than we first assumed," she said. A glance left granted her the sight of both Kiba and Shino—whole, still, but _breathing_. But Akamaru—

Her gaze flew past boxes and tarps in an otherwise empty hull. Where was Akamaru?!

"We will proceed with the plan as usual. Nothing has changed." He smiled. "Though by the look on your face, it seems that you are realizing that you are in far deeper than your expectations."

"Probably," she admitted with a loose shrug of her shoulder. "But we adapt. Keep going."

"Are you not concerned?"

"Do I have a reason to be?" she countered. As she tugged at the collar locked around her neck she stared straight into Sai's eyes. He wondered how she could act like that—like a half-decent shinobi who didn't allow their emotions to dictate their actions—when she kept something as irrational as the Mutt or as sensitive as Glasses close to her side.

The door to the hull swung open before he could open his mouth to answer, and in sauntered someone clad in a hakama and a thick tan tunic that stretched to wrap around their face.

But Sakura didn't pay much attention to that.

Instead, she was fixed on the red-hot branding iron at the stranger's side.


End file.
